RWBY: The New Empire: Remnants
by President Angel
Summary: For three months, the New Republic helped Vale rebuild the damage done by the New Empire. Beacon Academy rebuilt as both a Huntsman and Jedi Academy, the remnants of the New Empire had been swept away from existence but one. The second-in-command of the Empire, the Shadow Guard commander gathered a small group of Imperials to avenge his Empress, searching for the exiled Ruby Rose.
1. Jek 'Nrahom

Okay so this story is connected to another fanfiction called _RWBY: The New Empire_ by venom rules all so if you notice why there is both Old Republic, New Republic and New Jedi Order era characters, I suggest reading that story before this one so you understand the story. And consider this story as somewhat a sequel/spin-off, or whichever you want to call it. And this will also mainly be a side project for me to work on.

* * *

In the last three months, the New Republic military assisted in the rebuilding of Vale after the Imperial-Remnant conflict and with the Imperial Fortress destroyed, a rebuilt Beacon Academy was built over its ruins. The Huntsman Academy in Vale was no longer just training Huntsmen but Jedi as well. Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker took the opportunity offered by Ozpin for the return of the Jedi.

With the New Empire gone, our heroes were all on their own paths; Yang, now a Mandalorian warrior of Clan Cadera, enjoyed the life she was leading; Blake and Jaina in Menagerie, now living a happy married life with each other; the remaining members of Team JNPR now New Republic Huntsmen maintaining the peace in Vale; Ruby Rose... an exiled former Huntress and Sith apprentice. However in the ashes of the war, the New Republic had missed someone, the second-in-command of the New Empire; the Shadow Guard commander who gathered a group of remaining Imperials for his mission to finding and assassinating the Rose who was involved in the death of Empress Beniko.

Somewhere in the south-western reaches of Vale was an old bunker used by the Old Empire during the Empire-Republic war long ago. What made the bunker important was that it was in-use by a surviving group of imperials of the New Empire, and their leader? Jek 'Nrahom, the Shadow Guard commander.

There was a command center in the bunker and in it were Jek's five imperial commanders who were talking about their plans on retaliation against the New Republic.

"Impossible!" One of the commanders responded.

"Do you even realize how small we are? We don't even have an army large enough for a retaliatory strike against them." Another replied.

"He's right. The forces we've gathered over the last three months aren't enough. The New Republic has been growing and growing, they even got a group of Jedi with them now and a Mandalorian clan who are on good terms with them too." A commander spoke out.

"Not to mention that they even help the Republic occasionally." The 'Impossible!' commander mentioned.

"Look at this bunker gentlemen, its got the arsenal we need. Perfectly intact All Terrain-class walkers, Juggernaut tanks, TIE fighters and bombers, weapons... I'd say we are prepared." The proposing commander responded to their disagreements.

"Yes, its got the arsenal but our army are only three hundred plus stormtroopers, a hundred deactivated battle droids, few army personnel and only a squadron of pilots. We don't even have warships anymore, most of the fleet was hunted down." The fifth commander replied.

"Exactly!" The 'He's right' commander agreed. "But none of this matters. Commander 'Nrahom isn't interested in revenge against the Republic. He gathered us because he wants to avenge Empress Beniko." He finished.

They thought back when the war was over, what he said was true. Jek 'Nrahom gathered them and their forces because he wanted revenge on Ruby Rose. He considered Lana Beniko someone who saw real peace, and that the world's problems were caused by the New Republic but like many who follow the Sith, he was misguided.

"Oh, its useless. We've had no leads or sightings in the past two months. Our pilots have patrolled every area not controlled by the New Republic for this Ruby Rose. He's got us chasing nothing but dead ends." The 'Impossible!' commander responded.

"That's because you all are searching in the wrong areas!" Jek unexpectedly walked in on the five commanders, they all saluted upon seeing and hearing his voice. "The only reason why you haven't found her is because you haven't searched the other Kingdoms." He said to them.

"B-but my lord, the New Republic has sensors on the borders. If we send one of our fighters over them, they'll be tripped, and they'll suspect us and they'll search every area of Vale to find us." The 'He's right' commander told him the risks.

"Always worth the risk. I want this Rose found so I can stick my blade in her throat for what she has done! Go now, oversee preparations." He told the five commanders as they all nodded and walked off.

A few moments later, Jek pulled up a hologram of pre-exiled Ruby Rose and looked at it with anger. "Soon, you little brat. Soon, you will meet an end in your exile" He said before turning off the command console.

* * *

Later.

A pilot of Jek's faction was patrolling the coastal area of where their bunker was located, testing out an unknown TIE model they found. Unknown to the pilot, there were a group of Hunters looking for a New Republic freighter that went M.I.A. a few weeks ago and spotted the fighter flying above them.

"What's that?" One of the hunters asked as they looked up.

They ran to the water where they got a clear view of the fighter. Before they could lose the fighter, the group leader pulled out her scroll and recorded the last 4 seconds before the fighter disappeared deeper into the forest.

"Was that an Imperial TIE?" Another hunter asked. They were confused.

They knew the New Empire was gone but the possibility of a remnant was impossible because they knew the Republic destroyed what was left of the Empire's fleet, including their starfighter corps.

"We have to report this now. The New Republic needs to know what we saw!" She said as they rushed back to where they came from.

As they were running, they heard the same ion sound of the fighter they spotted earlier and stopped. They noticed it was getting louder. They began to run faster this time as the fighter was a specialized model with a gunner's seat that had a clear view behind the fighter. The TIE opened fire on them, killed one of the hunters. They stuck with their running and were being picked off one at a time. Eventually the group leader stopped running and hid under a bushy tree.

After the other hunters were killed, the fighter stopped and hovered near her position, scouting for survivors. She saw the fighter, the antenna on top of it as well as the turret attached to the bottom of the cockpit. She took out her scroll again and recorded the fighter for six seconds before it flew off back to base.

She sighed and climbed out of the tree. She went to gather the bodies of her fallen Hunters, taking their scrolls and bury their remains. After that, instead of taking her scroll to the New Republic physically, she used the signal of all seven scrolls to send the videos she recorded.

* * *

Location: New Republic MC80 command cruiser _Beacon_.

In the center bridge of the _Beacon_ , the communications crew had received the videos sent by the sole surviving Huntress. After reviewing the footage of both videos a few times, none of them wanted to believe it. The chief communications officer went to the captain.

"Sir, we received some unusual footage from a Huntress in the south-western region." He said to the captain of the _Beacon_. The captain turned around and followed him to the communications area.

He saw the footage for himself, surprised and worried. The fighter was unlike any of the New Empire's TIE fighters, it looked more advanced and larger. He went to inform High Command about it, as per the Valkyrie Protocol.


	2. Remnants of a fallen Empire

Within Ozpin's office at the Beacon Tower, the tallest one in the center of Beacon Academy, upon the activation of the Valkyrie Protocol, the scroll and terminal of each person within High Command was alerted to attend a gathering on the _Beacon_. Ozpin wasn't in his office at the time but he received it while walking in the halls. Luke was in middle of a class when he got it. Soon other High Command personnel stopped what they were doing and made their way to the _Beacon_.

As everyone was being seated in the _Beacon_ command center, the only two who haven't arrived yet were Ozpin and Luke. As usual, the two were stuck walking slow and talking their way to the bridge.

"So what do you think this is going to be about? Another officer being paranoid of New Empire remnants?" Luke asked Ozpin, who was walking beside him.

"I would suppose so. The New Republic cleared Atlas and Mistral last month. JNPR thinks the Empire is swept away." He replied.

"I guess so, but then again, whatever this is about, we should try to keep open minds." He said as he stopped both of them.

They were directly outside of the door that led to the commander center, they heard other High Command personnel chatter inside. In the last few decades, both Ozpin and Luke were great friends. They would sometimes talk for hours about themselves and about being in their "prime" as young men and regarded those memories the "good times."

"Hmm." He sipped his mug.

They both walked in as everyone stopped and looked at them. The _Beacon_ captain then got everyone's attention after both men were seated.

"Ahem. So I heard some conversations regarding what we were gathering for. An hour ago, the _Beacon_ communications team received two videos sent by a Huntress in the south-western region. I didn't think that after three months, any of them would still be alive, and that they'd resurface and show themselves like this." He explained to High Command.

He went over to the console control and brought down a screen where he showed everyone the first video about the TIE fighter's back view which lasted four seconds before it cut off to the second video where it was hovering over the small area and other bodies. When the fighter was facing the direction of the scroll, he paused it and everyone had a clear view of it.

Everyone was silent. The possibility was way off for any remnants to be showing themselves now. The last of the New Empire ships were destroyed over Mountain Glenn which was also where the last battle of the Imperial-Remnant conflict took place as most of the remaining New Empire forces made their last stand against the New Republic. However, both Luke and Han noticed the TIE fighter model.

"Hey, Han.. isn't that one of those fighters that attacked the _Falcon_?" Luke asked and reminded Han who was sitting not far from him.

"I noticed too, kid. But this one has an antenna." He replied.

"I'm sorry, generals? Do you know this fighter?" The captain asked them both.

"We encountered fighters like this one back in the Empire-Republic war. The Old Empire tried to improve their fighters with better ones of the same model. The one we're looking at is probably a prototype of a newer model because we've never seen an antenna or weapons attached to the cockpit at all." Han explained what he could about the fighter, at least with the knowledge he has about this model.

"So you're saying this is a special forces model?" The captain responded.

"I don't know. We didn't get to gather much about this fighter. The war was over before we could know more about it." He replied.

"Until we can uncover what this means, I'm initiating the Rose Directive, the New Republic will be watching all borders of the Vale, Vacuo, Atlas and Mistral." The New Republic general of the army said to the group.

"Hold on, wait. Before we start overreacting, why don't we just scout out the area where this fighter was spotted? Maybe we'll find something." Han suggested.

Some of the others whispered to each other while the others nodded and agreed. The captain thought that initiating the Rose Directive was just being paranoid. Soon everyone agreed to Han's suggestion, the Rose Directive wasn't initiated and High Command told Han that he was leading the scout team since he suggested it.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the bunker.

The 'Look at this bunker' commander was overseeing the preparation of the group's searching efforts in other Kingdoms by passing over the border. Still, the other three commanders disagreed and protested to Jek about not sending their fighters to trip the air sensors watching the borders.

"Shadow Leader, I want Shadows Four, Five, and Six to scout Mistral so they'll head east. Seven, Eight, and Nine will go to Atlas." The commander gave his orders to the squadron leader.

"Yes, sir. I'll direct them to their given locations once we're airborne." The pilot nodded and walked off.

"I still think this plan of Jek's isn't going to work. The New Republic's fighters are faster than these ones." He said to the 'Impossible!' commander beside him.

"As long as its going towards the plan of avenging the Empress, I think I'm okay with it." He replied.

"Have you learned nothing from the academy? In the event of the New Empire's downfall and/or the death of its leader, we should fight to keep it alive. And all that Jek is doing is looking for Little Red Riding Hood!" He shouted.

"If we were still fighting a month after the Empress' death, we would've ended up like the others at Mountain Glenn." He replied.

"They died fighting, and what did we do? Hide and cower in the face of those Republican criminals?" He asked, shouting again.

"Well we're alive. At least we're slowly getting bigger." He said to him.

"I heard a communications transmission two months ago during the battle at Mountain Glenn about an entire hidden Old Empire fleet of star destroyers, battlecruisers, frigates, and corvettes. If we can find that fleet, we can kill Jek and rule this group and world ourselves!" He told him about what he heard, two months ago.

The other commander didn't know what to say at this point. He was talking Anti-Imperial, talking about killing the second-in-command of the former New Empire. Let alone he being an Imperial Shadow Guard, one of the most feared units of the Imperial Military. But he knew that Jek had a limited connection to the Force, something the commanders didn't fully understand but feared as well.

A few moments later the TIE fighters activated their ion engines and lifted off the ground. Shadow Squadron was going to be gone for a few days, the fighter marshal was signalling the fighters to slowly go forward towards the main door. Soon the fighters were cleared to take off, each of them flew out of the hanger with three groups of three going in different directions of each other. The hangers closed afterwards and the personnel went back underground, deeper into the bunker.

Interesting enough, the bunker was disguised as just a listening post with a connected hanger for starfighter personnel. But below it were more levels, the surrounding area had ground-covered opening doors for its walkers and vehicles to use to get to the surface. However, there were also more levels that they didn't discover, archives of Old Empire information including blueprints for ships, walkers, vehicles, starfighters, battle droids and battle orders, plans, experimental weapons and a lot that Jek would find interesting but these levels were hidden really well and even deeper into the ground.

In the command center, two of the commanders were talking about the bunker's inventory and were planning to check the conditions of their arsenal.

"I count 6 AT-ATs, 9 AT-STs, 4 Juggernauts... 1 TX-130 fighter tank..?" He read the list of ground vehicles he had in his hands. "You'd figure a military like the Old Empire would have more than 1 fighter tank rather than having more of its larger walkers and vehicles." He said.

"As long as we got the walkers, commander, I think we'll do fine." The 'He's right' commander replied.

"These things have been collecting nothing but dust. Who knows if these things still work?" He complained.

"That's why we're going to check the conditions they are in. If they don't work then they're useless. Come on, 'Nrahom might not approve of our chatter. Let's go down to the motor pool and see for ourselves." The commander said, putting down what he was holding and walked out with him.

* * *

Meanwhile.

On the streets of Vale, people started to come across New Republic soldiers walking around. Normally they were not allowed or permitted to do that but the New Republic general of the army was paranoid and authorized their allowance to patrol the streets to respond to an event that involved the TIE fighter that was spotted. Much to the disagreement of High Command, the general of the army disregarded any protests.

"So I heard the Battle of Mountain Glenn was where the last imperial remnants made a last stand." One of the soldiers said as they walked by people.

"Come on, that was two months ago. That's all back there, why are you bringing it up now?" He asked the other soldier.

"I heard a rumor about why we're allowed to patrol Vale now." He replied.

"Oh, a rumor?" He asked.

"Yeah. The New Republic and Jedi are going to war with an unknown organization." He said.

"Oh yeah, and then the world will be at war. Maybe, just maybe the Mandalorians will help us again, hmm? And later down the line, maybe the White Fang will join in as well." He sarcastically played along with the rumor he heard.

"I'm not joking around. The guy I heard it from says he heard it from the captain of the _Beacon_ who was with High Command earlier today!" He was starting to get annoyed.

"Believe what you want. The Battle of Mountain Glenn was where the New Empire made its last stand, they're all dead and gone. They won't come back as an 'unknown organization,' okay?" He said and mocked him.

They later came across a comic book shop and entered it.

"Alright, alright. Hey, do you think they got those _Red vs. Blue_ comics in here?" He asked as the door shut.


	3. Rose Directive, Article 2

Lifting and taking off from the hanger bay of the _Beacon_ , the _Millennium Falcon_ made its way to the location of where the videos were sent from and had orders to locate the Huntress who sent them. On his scout team, Han had his co-pilot and best friend Chewbacca, New Republic Huntsmen Jaune, Ren and Pyrrha, and a few New Republic special forces personnel.

"Alright. Chewie's set the coordinates and we should be there in an hour or two. Let's go over the plan." Han said to the team as they gathered around him. "Once we get there, we'll split up into teams, that way we'll cover more ground. I will be with Team One while you guys will be Team Two. We'll search south of where we land." He explained the plan to them.

"What about the ship? Who'll watch it?" One of the soldiers asked.

"Chewie is." He replied. "Alright. Double check your weapons and there's ammo in that compartment over there if you need extra." He finished as he walked to the cockpit.

Chewie was piloting the ship as Han walked in on him. He sighed and sat down, Chewie roar quietly in curiosity.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Chewie. Jaina's married now, she wants to be happy in Menagerie with Blake. I couldn't have asked her to come with us." He replied.

Chewie agreed. Han attended his daughter's wedding in Menagerie, saw the house that she and Blake moved into, and met the in-laws Ghira and Kali. Kali told him that he reminded her of Ghira when he was younger. Ghira respected Han the moment they met, mainly due to the fact that he never left the New Republic when he had a chance too. Han, being the way he is, never really openly shown he was proud of Jaina but both Chewie and Jaina knew he was.

Meanwhile the others in the back were checking their gear. Jaune and Ren were talking about times before the conflict, before the New Empire. They both reminisced about the past before the deaths of Nora and Weiss. Pyrrha on the other hand was talking with Blake and Jaina over her scroll.

As Shadows Leader, Two, and Three closed in on the border between Vale and Vacuo, they slowed down a bit before proceeding.

"Alright, Two and Three, once we're directly over the border, we'll probably trip the air sensors and their cameras will lock onto our fighters. Once they know we passed, the New Republic will send dozens of fighters to follow behind us in order to neutralize us." He relayed out to his squadmates behind him.

"Don't worry, Shadow Leader, I knew the risks when I joined the New Empire Starfighter Corps. If they send squadrons, I'll be right behind you, sir." Shadow Two replied.

"Same can be said for me, sir. From darkness of the moon, we prevail." Shadow Three responded as well.

"Shadow Squadron strikes from the shadows!" All three said in unison as they sped past the border, tripping the sensors. The border area was a flat plains lands leading to desert, the camera sensors caught the TIE fighters nice and clear and alerted the New Republic.

In a New Republic outpost just north of where they passed, the soldiers within were alerted of the trips.

"Huh? Probably just another animal messing with the sensors." The soldier said as he went over to view the sensor trip. The camera sensor sent footage of not one but three TIE fighters passing by. He was shocked and quickly he alerted and sent the footage to the _Beacon_ in Vale.

At the same time, Shadows Four, Five, and Six also tripped the sensors covering the beaches of south-eastern Vale and the team at that outpost alerted and sent their footage to the _Beacon_ as well. With new video footage of now six imperial TIE fighters, the New Republic's Rose Directive was the only option as it stated;

 _In the event of the sighting, resurface and/or an attack by and of any and all New Empire assets and/or forces, all New Republic Defense Force personnel must initiate Rose Directive, Article 2, regardless of branch. By this point, all actions by surviving and ACTIVE New Empire personnel will be treated as hostile and is non-negotiable. Neutralizing New Empire threats by ALL means necessary is permitted by all New Republic Defense Force personnel._

* * *

Location: _Beacon_ command cruiser

Beeping started in the communications area of the _Beacon's_ bridge, the captain was called and he went. He reviewed the footage and saw the fighters on the videos but the fighters didn't have the antenna or weapons on the bottom.

"Alert General Solo immediately!" He said to his bridge officer.

Meanwhile the _Falcon_ made it to its destination as the team disembarked from the ship and looked around the forest. They began to head south where they thought they would find some answers. However before Solo could leave his ship, the _Beacon_ sent an urgent message that caught his attention.

"This is a message from the MC80 command cruiser _Beacon_ to General Han Solo of the New Republic. General, sensors have been tripped at border locations between Vale and Vacuo as well as the south-eastern listening station covering the south-east region of Vale, six TIE fighters were counted, three at both locations. If you're mission has not gone anywhere, or you are unable to find any evidence or leads related to the spotted unknown model of TIE fighter, please return to the _Beacon_ immediately!" The message played as it was recorded by the captain.

Han turned off the communications and disembarked with the team as well. Chewie roared as Han and the teams walked away from the _Falcon_.

"Alright, JPR (Jupiter), let's head south. Sergeant! If you find anything, let me know on comms." He called out the sergeant who acknowledged and responded.

"So what do you think we'll find out there, Solo?" Pyrrha asked.

"I don't know. Grimm, animals, birds... let's just search this area." He replied.

The sun started to set, the night began to roll in and the cold froze the heat from the time of day, it was nightfall. From the encounter earlier between the TIE fighter and the Huntsmen team, stormtrooper teams of Jek's faction were about half a mile away from the bunker setting up motion sensors they found in the barracks so they could learn of any incoming intruders such as Grimm, bandits, or New Republic soldiers.

"This is stormtrooper team four to Cinder Actual, we finished setting up the motion sensors and they should be online now." The stormtrooper sergeant relayed back to the bunker.

"Be advised, team four, team seven has reported an incoming ship flying overhead. Turn off all light sources to avoid detection." Cinder Actual responded.

After the teams took off from the _Falcon_ , Chewie flew the ship to be an overhead scout and would report anything he found to Han who would alert the other teams to reach his position. Unknown to Chewie and Cinder Actual, he was flying towards the bunker but since it was night, it was hard to see but luckily the _Falcon_ had lights on its forward side. Team four turned off the lights on their weapons and helmets as the _Falcon_ flew by. They watched it go by.

As the _Falcon_ approached the bunker, the imperials inside were alerted but did not react at all because they knew the bunker was a decoy. Chewie saw the antenna dish from above and told Han its position.

"Alright, Chewie. Land the _Falcon_ and wait for us near the location." He relayed back to Chewie who roared in response. "Hey, kids, Chewie found something. We need to get to him now." He said to the Huntsmen with him.

While they were walking the way Chewie told Han to go to, the Special Forces operators were told by him as well to go in that direction towards the bunker but before they could respond, they were attacked by stormtroopers from all sides and since it was dark, they couldn't see a thing but the bright blaster bolts that shined whenever they fired. After a small firefight, communications with the team are lost.

* * *

Newer chapters will generally be done and out within a day or so.


	4. Mobilization of the New Republic

As they reached the location, they saw Chewie waiting on a ridge that overlooked the bunker. The only thing Han was waiting for was the Special Forces team who—unknown to Han—were attacked and killed by stormtroopers. As they waited, Han was trying to get a hold of the team with his comlink.

"Team two, this is General Solo, are you there?" He relayed. He heard nothing but static everytime he waited for a response.

"I'm sure they probably just got lost or something, Solo. I mean they didn't have any light source." Pyrrha said to him as he was still attempting to get a response from them.

"If they are not here by tomorrow, then we're going in. Let's set up camp here. Chewie, you take the first shift as our guard." He suggested as Chewie roared in agreement.

The three agreed as well and then they started to set up some spots to sleep on but since it was in the middle of a forest, they didn't have any beds or sleeping bags with them so they had to just sleep the long logs they found.

* * *

Meanwhile in Vale...

Ozpin was in his office listening to a news broadcast when Luke walked in complaining that the New Republic was overreacting about seven TIE fighters that didn't seem to pose such a huge threat since the New Empire three months prior.

"I don't believe this, Ozpin. The New Republic's overreaction is really bothering me." He said to the older man sitting in his chair.

"Well I do not blame them, Skywalker. They are military commanders, they'd take anything this small seriously. But you have to wonder, what if they are right?" He replied to Luke.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Hiding for two months gives enough time to grow. Those seven fighters are probably returning to wherever they came from." He replied.

"Are you suggesting that not all of the New Empire forces were defeated at Mountain Glenn two months ago?" He asked.

"I'm just speculating, Skywalker. Maybe not all of them gathered at Glenn, maybe some just decided to.. disappear?" He speculated.

Luke started to think about that. Sure the New Empire was different from the Old Empire. But he didn't think about those who would disobey and hide when their commanders needed them the most. As he was thinking, the Vale News Network were speculating on why the New Republic seemed to be mobilizing in Vale as more and more of their forces came to gather at the Emerald Forest. Their speculations were debunked when the New Republic's Supreme Commander spoke out to the other three Kingdoms from Atlas. Ozpin and Luke watched the broadcast.

"People of Remnant, three months ago, a near-undefeatable enemy took control of Vale but the students and staff of Beacon Academy and members of the New Republic stopped that enemy. The battle at Mountain Glenn costed the New Republic many lives but we did not let their deaths go in vain. From that point in time, the New Republic made decisions to expand and now here we are. For the past two months, we protected all of Remnant, our army grows everyday with enlisting men and woman who made an oath to protect our world, our fleet receiving more ships and personnel every week. Recently, we had reports of New Empire survivors." He gave a speech to the world.

After saying about New Empire survivors, video footage of the TIE fighters were shown on-screen for everyone to see.

"Since this sighting and possible resurface, its clear that not all New Empire forces joined the larger force at Mountain Glenn when they were needed the most. Our peace is in danger, we do not know if these survivors are part of something larger or are alone but one thing we do know is this; they had two months of uninterrupted time to themselves and those fighters passing the borders into Vacuo, Mistral and Atlas means something. Please, do not panic, the New Republic will be mobilized in Vale and from there, we'll uncover this mystery." He finished as Lisa Lavender began to talk again.

"Well following the mysterious mobilization of the New Republic, it appears James Ironwood just informed us. The New Republic military is prepa-" Ozpin turned away from the broadcast and closed his scroll.

"These are dark times, Luke." He said, getting up from his chair and looked out the window behind him.

The two men could see nothing but arriving New Republic MC80s, cruisers, frigates, corvettes, dropships and fighters. They both feared that James would ask them for help, to put the lives of their students and Jedi on the line. The Mandalorians were more than willing to help, they were essentially New Republic external assets to them.

* * *

A day later...

Waking up, Solo didn't feel the log he fell asleep on and instead found himself within a cell and two commanders at the door.

"What the?" He asked as he looked around in confusion and noticed them.

"And what brings a group of armed people to this part of the region, hmm?" The 'He's right' commander asked.

"Just doing some camping and hunting, didn't know you guys chose this spot first." He sarcastically answered.

"Oh, yes, of course. Camping without tents and sleeping bags. I'm pretty sure your definition of camping is far from the normal one, Solo." The commander said his name. "Now that we have you here, Solo, I don't think you can be let go. After all, one of the soldiers of your other group told us all about the Rose Directive. Negotiations between us and your military buddies is impossible." He told him the status of the Special Forces team.

"I had four others with me. What did you do with them?" He got up and went up to the commander face to face.

"Oh the children and the Wookiee? Do not worry about them, General." The 'Impossible!' commander replied as they both walked away.

Stuck in an unknown place, he thought to himself. He knew Jaina would come looking for him if she knew he was captured by imperials, and he hoped that she wouldn't put herself and Blake's life in harm's way again as she promised him during her wedding party.

* * *

Location: Menagerie, Belladonna-Solo home.

On the island of Menagerie, the Faunus lived in peace without the hate they got from humans in the Kingdoms. Both Blake and Jaina enjoyed their happy married life. Their house was big, it wasn't near the main settlements on the island, it was in a place where they could be alone with each other which was how they liked it. In the living room of said house, both of them were nude as they were laying down on couch cushions and looked at the ceiling.

"Can I ask you something, Jaina?" Blake asked as she was running her fingers through her wife's hair.

"Yes, love?" She replied, holding onto her other hand.

"Did you ever think of wanting to go back to the New Republic?" She asked. Unlike Jaina, Blake wanted to serve with the Republic again.

"I thought we agreed we were done with that life, sweetheart?" She reminded her the day of their wedding. They both agreed to a happy life, away from the war and violence the New Republic always carried with them.

"I don't know, its just.." The cat-Faunus paused.

"Boring?" She asked.

"N-no.. its just.. I don't know, Jaina. After that battle at Mountain Glenn, I kinda miss the fights." She replied.

Before her wife could answer, they heard a knock on their front door and quickly got up to dress themselves as they didn't want to be seen naked by anyone else other than each other. They went to answer the door to find a White Fang Faunus member with two others behind him.

"What do you want?" Blake asked. Jaina had her blaster ready behind her back.

"We're sorry to intrude but we need to talk with you, if that's alright." He asked politely.

She let them in, much to the disagreement by Jaina. They explained why they came to her and why they needed to talk with her so badly. Apparently with the death of Adam at the hands of Ruby, the White Fang remained splintered world-wide and were in conflicts with each other, the New Republic, and the Mandalorians.

"So you want me to stop all that?" She asked.

"Yes. I know its too much to ask of you, Belladonna, but we need someone to help us. Sienna was murdered trying to maintain the White Fang in Mistral, and we don't know where Corsac and Fennec is. Your father wouldn't listen to us, said we needed to deal with this ourselves." He explained.

She looked over her shoulder at Jaina, she knew she wanted action again but not this kind of action. This was more political than what she had in mind. This was larger than anything she thought of, trying to reunite the White Fang altogether included those scattered around Remnant was a big job to carry even with the help of her lover, it was too much.

"Fine. But I only ask for one thing." She answered their call for help.

"Of course. What is it?" He asked.

Later the three were walking away from their house, the group leader was wearing something different. Instead of the uniform he came with, Blake gave him a newer one. It consisted of an undershirt and an all black trench-coat with dark gray and purple lining, the trench-coat had her symbol imprinted onto the back. Additionally, the pants were all black as well with a white belt that had purple and gold-ish lining, the boots they wore were similar to those worn by ancient Mandalorians. Unfortunately, she only had one of them so she sent the only one back with them so they could create more.

She also wore a different outfit (her Post-Timeskip outfit) herself as well which was similar to the uniform she gave to the three White Fang members who just left. Jaina wasn't sure on how she felt about her wife's decision but she went with it because she also kinda missed the action. Blake was having thoughts about what she just got herself into, but it was already done. She was now the High Leader of the fractured and splintered White Fang, and she needed to be careful and slow.

* * *

So what do y'all think of Blake's new position?


	5. The Vacuo remnant

As Shadow Leader and his two wing mates were flying over the desert plains of the south-eastern border between Vacuo and Vale, an unknown group of signals approached their six.

"Finally, the New Republic fighters arrive." Shadow Leader said to himself. But instead he received a transmission from them.

"Attention, Shadow Squadron! If you are part of a remnant of the New Empire then please follow us." The transmission read.

Shadow Leader didn't know what to think, or say. He had thought that Jek's faction was the only remnant of the New Empire military. He then wanted to find out for sure whether or not they were another remnant.

"Shadows Two and Three, fall in behind our mysterious friends. Failure to do so will probably result in them blowing us out of the sky." He relayed to Two and Three.

"Yes, sir." Two responded.

"Right behind you, sir." Three responded.

As they followed the other group of TIE interceptors, they were led to a mountain range where they saw a hanger door open in one of the mountains and landed with them. They got out of their cockpits, they noticed starfighter corps and logistics personnel tending to the other docked TIE fighters, interceptors, and bombers. Shadow Leader knew that Jek would be surprised to know these imperials existed.

"Shadow Leader, correct?" An imperial officer with a stark white uniform with gold epaulets approached the three Shadow pilots.

"Grand Admiral Renwil?" Shadow Leader knew who he was.

Although the New Empire's navy was commanded by Jek, he had appointed four Grand Admirals when Lana Beniko told him the plan to expand her Empire into the other three Kingdoms once her apprentice was a full Sith Lord but this never happened due to her death. Two Grand Admirals were killed at Mountain Glenn when they rallied a large force against the New Republic.

"So you see when I saw the Imperial Fortress was destroyed, I hoped that the Empress' apprentice was going to take over for her but then we found out she was responsible for her death. After that, I took what forces I had to Vacuo where we found this Old Empire command fortress." He explained what he did after Lana's death.

"What about the forces at Mountain Glenn, sir? How come you didn't help them?" He asked.

"Because it was suicide. The New Republic, Jedi and Mandalorian alliance was too large for whoever was gathering at Mountain Glenn. I decided that I'd keep my forces here until we thought out a plan to successfully strike back at the New Republic. Thing is without any ships, we're in no condition to fight back. And when you three set off those sensors at the border, it stirred up the New Republic. They've been mobilizing in Vale every since." He continued.

"We only passed it because Jek told us to expand our searches in the other Kingdoms which is why we had to trip those sensors." He told him his mission in Vacuo.

"Wait, Jek 'Nrahom is alive? The Supreme Commander of the New Empire military is not dead?" He stopped the group and looked at them.

"Yes, sir. We've been hiding in an Old Empire bunker for the past three months, he's had us searching for the Empress' apprentice who betrayed her." He answered him.

"Is there any way you can get into contact with him?" He sounded eager to get into contact with Jek.

"No, sir. Our communications don't have the range to send a signal that far." He replied.

"Don't worry. We got strong communications in the command center. This way!" He said as they started walking again.

Renwil then led them to the command center where they would make contact with those at the bunker Jek used as a base. On their way to the command center, he explained that they were in constant communication with another remnant of the New Empire in western Atlas that claimed to have a _Resurgent_ -class battlecruiser, Lana's flagship.

Meanwhile back at the bunker.

Jek was meditating and thought about a moment he cherished a lot with Empress Beniko. Even though he was just her personal guard, he slowly began to see her as more than just an Empress he served. He felt love but deep down, he knew that she didn't feel those types of emotions.

* * *

 _Three months earlier, minutes before the Battle of Beacon._

"Empress, the ships and troops are almost ready." Jek reported to Lana.

"Good, 'Nrahom. Once we control Vale, the other three Kingdoms will be mine." She told herself as she stood in the bridge of her flagship, the _Commander_.

"I... will remain at your side always, my lady." He said as he bowed to her while she turned around, looking down at him.

"You've done me a very great service, Jek 'Nrahom. There would be no one else I'd rather have by my side than my most loyal Shadow Guard, Jek." She commended his service.

Jek felt praised and happy to hear that from her. During the last few months of assisting her in managing the New Empire's secret mobilization, he fell in love with her. And with the Force, she felt it whenever he was near but she did not return the feelings.

"Thank you, my lady." He rejoiced.

She turned back around to look out of the window with Jek standing behind on her right. Unlike the other Shadow Guards that guarded Lana, his armour was different from theirs. Instead of the robes worn by the others, he wore combat Shadow Guard armour with a large right dark red pauldron but still retained the black cape they all wore.

* * *

"Sir? Sir!" A voice called out as he opened his eyes. He was back in the present and saw one of his commanders, the 'Look at this bunker' commander.

"What is it?" He asked him.

"Shadow Leader is contacting us, sir. And he's not alone." He told him that he had to say.

Jek then got up and walked to the command center with the commander. He was also explaining to him about the New Republic's large fleet and army at the Emerald Forest which has been growing since yesterday. He walked into the command center and saw the other four of his commanders talking with Renwil until he was noticed.

"Supreme Commander 'Nrahom..." Renwil said as Jek looked back at him, surprised.

"Grand Admiral Renwil... you're alive. I thought you perished with the rest at Mountain Glenn." He expressed himself now that he knew Renwil was alive and well.

"No sir. I didn't join the other two when they asked for the help of my forces. I instead came to Vacuo, sir, we've been hiding in an Old Empire mountain command fortress. You wouldn't believe how many other places like this exist, the Old Empire had hundreds of bunkers and bases just hidden all around Remnant." He explained himself after the assault on the Imperial Fortress.

"Hmm, it is interesting to hear that, Renwil. How large is your force, admiral?" He asked.

"My force is large enough for a direct assault, sir. Two thousand plus stormtroopers, a full barracks worth of Army and logistics personnel, three full wings of starfighter pilots, a ship's worth of naval personnel, and enough walkers, ground vehicles, and starfighters." He laid out the list of his forces in the mountain base.

"That's a lot larger than us, sir." The 'Impossible' commander mentioned.

"I agree." The 'He's right' commander agreed.

"We've also been in contact with another group of imperials, sir. They claim to be in possession of the Empress' flagship." He told him something he would really love.

"The _Commander_?" He was taken by surprise.

When the New Republic and the remaining Beacon Academy students attacked the Imperial Fortress, naval forces of the New Republic went after the battlecruisers and fleet protecting its skies. Jek believed that the _Commander_ was destroyed along with the fleet at Mountain Glenn a month later.

"They are based in western Atlas, sir." He told the location of the other remnant force.

There was beeping on Jek's command console, they all noticed it.

"Renwil, hold on." He said to him.

"Of course, sir." He replied and nodded.

As Jek pressed down on the console's communications hot-key, they all saw a White Fang Faunus with the uniform given by Blake which was now worn by all of them in Menagerie.

"Yes, Lieuten- what are you wearing?" He frowned and asked.

"That is what I wanted to talk to you about, my lord." The Faunus answered. "We have a problem, the White Fang here have gotten us a new leader." He reported.

"And...? What has this got to do with me, Luna?" He replied to the situation.

"Its Blake Belladonna and her wife, Jaina Solo, my lord. She just told me she has plans to stop the White Fang civil war and reunite all of us. That's why I'm wearing this ridiculous new uniform." He informed him of the plan Blake had.

"That'll.. complicate things. If the White Fang is reunited under her leadership, the New Republic won't be busy with them in Mistral or Atlas. The Mandalorians won't be doing anything either..." He thought about it. It would change everything he has planned for the Rose.

"What should I do, my lord?" Luna asked.

"How close are you to her?" He had something else planned instead of staging her assassination.

"Really close, my lord. Aside from her wife, I'm her chief adviser." He replied.

"Good. Then you'll be able to report everything she tells you to me, hmm?" He laid out a plan for information regarding the fractured White Fang.

"Of course, my lord. That's a great idea. I'll let you know about anything else." He said as the transmission cut off.

The other commanders were wondering why he suggested that instead of killing Blake, which would've been easier. Like they did with Sienna in Mistral, they planned the White Fang to be splintered into various groups fighting against each other but this just un-did everything they were planning for them. Jek then resumed his conversation with Renwil who was still waiting.

"Renwil, everything's changed. My plans, yours, and theirs are changed. I want to board the New Republic's command cruiser in Vale. They might have information regarding the location of the exiled Rose." He changed his plans since Luna told him about Blake's new position.

"B-but sir, the _Commander_ is only one ship. And the New Republic fleet in Vale is too much for it to handle on its own." He protested.

Jek then went on to explain his plan to them. There was a New Republic command center in the city of Atlas, the _Commander_ destroys it and attacks Atlas until the New Republic fleet above the Emerald Forest goes to assist by which the _Commander_ retreats and disappears. Once the fleet is away, Jek's ground forces gather at Mountain Glenn where they expose themselves to hopefully then draw away the New Republic army in the Emerald Forest. Then two wings of Renwil's starfighters and Shadow Squadron attacks the _Beacon_ after Jek gets on board to search for information for Ruby Rose's location.

"There is a risk though, sir. Our troops are only three hundred stormtroopers and one hundred battle droids. The walkers in the motor pool are fine but I don't think our Army personnel is enough to commandeer all the walkers we have." The 'Yes' commander informed a risk.

"It'll take a few days for the walkers to reach Mountain Glenn, and it'll be hard for them to keep hidden." He mentioned the slowness of the AT walkers.

"There's no way for mine to go as well, sir. Once mine trip the sensors at the border, they'll be in danger." He mentioned the sensors.

"Only my ground forces will gather at Mountain Glenn. Renwil, I want you to send some personnel so I can put all the walkers we have to use." He demanded.

"Of course, sir. It may also take some time to contact the _Commander_. I'm not sure how they'll react to this." He replied.

"Its the will of the Empress, admiral. They better be on board with it." He was serious about the plan.

With that said, Renwil went on to inform the commanders of his two starfighter wings about their new mission as well as the Army personnel he was going to send to assist the five commanders at Mountain Glenn while Jek was going to board the _Beacon_ using a stolen New Republic shuttle from a landing platform in the south region. A plan was set into place and the only thing left to deal with was Solo and his team.


	6. White Fang remnants

Down in the brig section of the bunker, Jek went to speak with Solo. On his way down, he stopped by the motor pool to see how things were with the walkers he planned to use and how much of his personnel was able to pilot them.

"Well, sir, each of these walkers haven't been used in a decade, more or less but regardless, they seem to be in working order. I think that if we have enough personnel, all of these walkers can be put to use in Mountain Glenn, sir." The Army AT-AT sergeant reported to Jek.

"Hmm, good. Once Renwil's reinforcements get here, I want everyone to load up and get moving." He replied.

"Yes, sir!" The sergeant saluted before walking away.

Jek then made his way to the brig to speak with Solo and hopefully to learn more about the _Beacon_ and how it security would react to an attack. He also wanted to use Jaune as well to have the New Republic believe that Solo and his team defected and killed the Special Forces team.

"Han Solo... famous Dust smuggler, General of the Alliance, and now a General of the New Republic. That's quite a change in lifestyle." Jek said to the Solo sitting down.

"I figured I wouldn't be doing it forever." He replied.

"And now here you are. Rotting in a cell in an Old Empire vehicle factory, you must be thinking in another change in life, hmm? Perhaps..." He sensed that Solo was thinking about Jaina and Leia Organa. "Ahh... when in doubt, you think of your daughter.. and ex-wife." He said whatever he saw on his mind.

Solo looked up at the Shadow Guard standing on the other side of the cell door. Jek then sensed a bit of anger coming from him.

"Tell me about the _Beacon_." He asked.

"The _Beacon's_ an MC80 _Liberty_ type Star Cruiser, command ship of the New Republic Vale Fleet." He heard the sarcasm in his voice.

"Being sarcastic shows that you don't wanna talk. Oh, but I'm sure that I can find a way to make you talk, Solo." He said as he signaled the two stormtroopers to open the cell and grab the Han.

What Jek had on his mind was something considered extreme but for the New Empire, it was always necessary to make people talk when they were asked too.

* * *

Location: _Beacon_ , Vale

A New Republic officer had approached the captain to report on the smaller conflicts they had with White Fang splinter groups here in Vale.

"Sir, the White Fang group that attacked our freighter have struck again. Our listening post near the south-western border has gone dark. I directed nearby Huntsmen and response forces to investigate and assess the situation." He reported.

"Still no word from General Solo, Bride?" He asked.

"No, sir. We've been trying every frequency and the Special Forces team with him but we've been getting nothing but static, sir." He replied.

The captain stood still. As more and more ships and ground forces arrived in Vale, they were all directed to the Emerald Forest where it was now a New Republic staging ground. With the White Fang civil war, the New Republic in the other Kingdoms needed to try and divide the troops and resources as James had called available ships to Vale.

"Bride, contact the _Organa_ and tell them I want Blue Squadron to scout the area of Solo's last known location to try and establish contact." He gave an order to the officer.

"Yes, sir." He complied as he saluted and walked away.

With that, Bride contacted the _Organa_ , a Nebulon-B2 frigate, to request that Blue Squadron scout and search for Solo. With New Republic fighters landed and docked at the Emerald Forest, many of them were being modified to have more advanced shielding on their front and back sides to minimize the chances of being shot out of the sky.

* * *

Blake and Jaina finally arrived at the White Fang Menagerie HQ, they saw the guards wearing the new uniform she gave them. Upon walking into the main doors, the two lovers saw the honour guards who were waiting for Blake to arrive. She noticed the same uniform but improved; instead of the undershirt in the original, they wore black under-armour, black with purple and gold-ish lining wrist armour that went up to their elbow, black leg armour with gold-ish lining but didn't overlap with their boots, and helmets with an open face, and glowing gold-ish and red lights attached to the helmet. They also wore pauldrons to signify rank.

"Wow." Jaina said, looking at one of the guards who looked to be an honour guard ultra.

The ultra nodded his head to the other guards around the two after they started walking, signaling they were moving. Jaina was examining the guards to try and figure out which was which, she assumed the ones with large right pauldrons meant they would be at Blake's side at all times while ones with small pauldrons were regular guards. But there were also other pauldrons they didn't see.

As they arrived where Luna and some of the other high ranking Faunus were, they noticed that Jaina wasn't a Faunus but rather a human whom they seemed to have tolerated her presence, mainly because they knew she was Blake's wife.

"Welcome, High Leader Belladonna." Luna welcomed her presence. "Cole will bring you up to speed on what our situation is. Cole?" He introduced a Faunus named Cole.

"Thank you, Luna. When Adam was executed by the New Empire, the White Fang in Vale already were splintered and when Sienna, our previous High Leader, tried to bring them back into the larger White Fang, she was assassinated by a rogue group but the thing is, no one knows this group or where they are. This not only fractured the White Fang but also caused uproar with Faunus all around Remnant, many of the supporters turned away from us." He explained as he put down his scroll on the holographic screen of the table in the middle of them and displayed an image of the White Fang Lieutenant who obeyed Adam.

"This Lieutenant is the White Fang remnants' most dangerous enemy. From what we learned, he has rallied three groups of White Fang into his own faction and they are based in Vale, and they call themselves the Reborn White Fang. They are also at war with the New Republic in Vale and Mistral and with the Mandalorians in south Mistral. He also is responsible for the deaths of various other higher ranked Faunus in Vale and a few Mandalorians who belong to Clan Cadera." He continued. Blake's ears went up upon hearing Cadera, she knew Yang was part of that clan.

"Most of the White Fang in Vale are tied to him but there are also some groups in Vacuo, Atlas and Mistral." His scroll brought up another White Fang Faunus named Krim. "This Faunus leads a group that we've identified as the Followers of Sienna, they are.. more or less willing to align themselves with anyone who is the strongest, regardless of race. They have no problems with the New Republic or Mandalorians but a lot with other White Fang remnants." He gave an insight on the Faunus group.

Blake began to think of a plan to bringing the White Fang back together but she wanted to know more before she tells them.

"We do not know much about Krim but we do know is that he was one of Sienna's guards so he is a loyalist. Another major group in Mistral are the Taurus Loyalists who.. well it should be obvious, they use the death of Adam Taurus as a drive for their moral, and unlike the Reborn or Followers, these Faunus seem to be aligned with an unknown party." He finished explaining the majority while they were moving into the smaller groups.

"In Vacuo and Atlas, we've identified the groups as just small unguided factions who are unified under a single group of leaders. Unlike all of the other groups we've explained, these Faunus are at war with all parties of Remnant, that may include us too. But we need to kill the group leaders so that we are unified in order to secure a safe future for Faunus, to once again be the White Fang we were before Sienna's death." Luna explained the last few groups. Blake had a plan thought out now, but they were going to be disappointed.

"No. We'll convince them to join us, but if they don't then we'll get them out of the picture. Once we've gathered all of the remaining White Fang, we'll reorganize ourselves into something better, a better future for the Faunus is to show that we can help and defend humans, and we'll do that by starting an alliance with the New Republic." She laid out her plans for the White Fang. Most of them had second thoughts about Blake, some of them just went with it.

"But the New Republic's Supreme Commander is James Ironwood, the same man who has a grudge against the White Fang for terrorist attacks in the past. He won't ally with us!" Luna protested as did the other White Fang with them.

"Jaina's mother is a New Republic politician, she can helps us secure friendly relations with the New Republic once we have enough members." She explained the importance of Jaina's mother to the New Republic and their cause.

"Politicians don't have any real military power within the New Republic's military at all, High Leader. I don't think that Ironwood would approve of it." He mentioned her position and role within the New Republic.

"Well that is where you are wrong. My mother is the Chief of State, the person who essentially leads the New Republic and is the civilian Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Forces. Ironwood reports directly to her. She can help us." Jaina cut in and explained her mother's true position and role.

Luna sighed. "If you think this will work then I guess I have no objections, High Leader. After you are our leader now so we need to change." He replied.

* * *

Meanwhile at Mountain Glenn.

Jek had sent scout troopers to the ship graveyard in the ruins of Mountain Glenn. The troopers saw nothing but ruined buildings, destroyed vehicles, AT-class walkers, crashed ships and wrecked fighters.

"It looks clear, Cinder Actual. Nothing here but wreckage from the battle two months ago. We've also spotted small pockets of Grimm in the area and have located a secure command post area." The scout sergeant relayed back to the bunker.

"Copy that, scout team one. Begin to set up initial staging area. Reinforcements are en route." Cinder Actual relayed out their next orders.

"Copy, Cinder Actual." The sergeant responded and began to follow her orders.

Back at the bunker, the personnel from Renwil's forces arrived and the two starfighter squadrons which docked in the hanger. The army personnel then got into the AT walkers and made their way to Mountain Glenn while AT-STs and the Juggernaut tanks cleared the way for the AT-ATs. With Jek's faction moving to the ship graveyard, the _Commander_ agreed with the mission and began preparations to attack the New Republic in Atlas.

* * *

Up until now, I've never really asked for anyone's thoughts or reviews but I am asking now.


	7. Project Resurrection

Sorry for the wait. I know I said a day after but things are getting a bit more busy for me. I also changed the story's title to "RWBY: The New Empire: Remnants" as I noticed this focuses on other points of view rather than just Jek which was the original idea. But anyways enough from me, I hope you enjoy this one!

* * *

Tying JPR and Chewbacca onto chairs in front of Solo, he had an idea of what they were going to do but he couldn't do anything about it. The grip of the stormtroopers were too strong for him to break. He then noticed four White Fang Faunus walked in and prepared their fists, getting them ready.

"Sarcasm can get you so far, Solo. If you do not wish to talk then maybe I'll have these Faunus here force you to speak." Jek said as the Faunus were going to beat his team.

"You really wanna know about the Beacon?" He said to Jek before the Faunus were able to hit them.

"So you talk when you're allies are about to be beaten good?" He replied.

"They're only kids still. You think I'd hold back information to see them being beaten by Faunus?" He said to Jek, who respectfully hummed.

"Sergeant, take them back and the beast back to their holding cells." He ordered as the stormtrooper sergeant signaled the other troopers.

As JPR and Chewie were escorted back to their cells, Jek pulled up a chair in front of Solo and sat down, ready to speak about the Beacon, about its security response, defense protocols, on-board New Republic Army soldiers.

"So.. what do you want to know about the Beacon?" He asked the masked Shadow Guard in front of him.

"First thing's first, Solo. Security response; where and when they will strike and respond to an attack on the ship." He replied.

"I don't know the response but I know three criminals who do know." He mentioned a trio close to Cinder and Roman.

"And these are...?" He asked.

"The first one is named, I think Esmeralda.. the second one would be Mercurio and the other last was a little girl named after an ice cream, I believe." He answered with their names, which were incorrect.

"And they are found where...?" He asked their location this time.

"I don't know where they are found. I don't keep track of criminals." He replied. Jek sensed that he was telling the truth.

"Very well. Now how about the Beacon's defense protocols, what can you reveal on them?" He asked.

"You're gonna love this one. Its more of a command directive than protocol, regardless of its name. Every ship in the New Republic fleet can initiate the Schnee Protocol if the crew can't handle their intruders." He explained one of the New Republic Defense Fleet's vital command directives.

"Hmm, interesting." He said. He began to admire the New Republic's motives the last two months, the pre-cautions they were taking.

"But considering you, I think they'd initiate it as soon as you are spotted." He told him the dangers he represented to the New Republic.

Jek knew that. To the New Republic, a Shadow Guard was worth more than two hundred stormtroopers and were considered to be extremely dangerous. He had a plan to find Ruby Rose, and he wanted to use Jaune for a focal point of the allegiance for Solo and his team towards the New Republic.

* * *

Meanwhile, Renwil and the captain of the _Commander_ were talking with each other about their assault on the New Republic's headquarters in Atlas and how it would affect the New Republic's massive force at the Emerald Forest.

"He suggests you use the _Commander_ to attack the New Republic in Atlas. At least destroy their headquarters and then retreat. It'll be enough to distract the New Republic's force they amassed at the Emerald Forest." Renwil told him Jek's plan and their involvement.

"Wants us to attack Atlas? Does he realize the amount of ships they got stationed north of the city? Even if we could, we'd be spotted and left to deal with a group of warships with only ONE battlecruiser, sir." The captain replied, seeing the _Commander_ as only one ship.

"Well since 'Nrahom is now the leader of what remains of the New Empire, you do not have a choice, captain. We are doing this for Empress Beniko." He replied to his concern.

"Very well, sir. I'll see to it that our turbolaser batteries are loaded and prepared. The _Commander_ will perform a full bombardment on the New Republic Senate headquarters. That should be enough to distract the New Republic for the Emperor's assault." He layed out the plan he had. Renwil heard him say Emperor.

"Emperor? Who's the Emperor?" He asked, confused but figured he meant Jek.

"Empress Beniko is gone, sir. And since Jek was the Supreme Commander of the New Empire, it technically makes him the Emperor, sir." He pointed out the chain of command falling to 'Nrahom.

"Which reminds me, how are the androids?" He asked.

"They are well on schedule, sir. The first one is complete and the memories and personality routines are being uploaded into the mind unit, the second one is almost complete, sir. Does he know?" He answered his question about two special androids.

"No. I don't think the Empress told him at all but we will reveal to him soon. He'll believe she's alive once he sees the droid. But captain, make your preparations for the assault. Use whatever you have with you to ensure you complete your task. Is that understood?" He gave him his order and waited for confirmation.

"Yes, sir! I will see to it that we are prepared." The captain replied as the transmission ended.

On the _Commander_ in western Atlas, the captain went to check on the aforementioned androids to see the condition of the second one. This was something Lana began as a last resort contingency in case of her death by the New Republic or her Jedi and Beacon enemies. Walking into the maintenance division section of the ship, the captain saw the second having its clothing parts just finished.

"Oh, hello, Captain. As you can see, the team is almost finished with the second android." The maintenance worker reported.

"Good." He said as he looked at the two androids.

The first android was taller than the second one. The completed android was similar to Penny, having its own personality and routines, however what made the android different from Polendina was that this android was fitted with Lana's memories and personality. It also was fitted with lightsaber-resistant plates discovered as Armosis as well as its appearance being almost identical to Beniko. The second one was to be fitted with a DNA clip that contained a small portion of Ruby's mind, taken by Lana during their time together in Remnant's outer orbit. She called it; **Project Resurrection**.


	8. The Return

_Location: White Fang Menagerie HQ_

Blake and Jaina walked into the room where Luna told her that was her High Leader's quarters for now until they got the main fortress in Mistral. Her honour guards waited outside, even the Ultra. Jaina sighed, sensing Luna and the others were having negative thoughts about Blake's decision.

"What's wrong, Jaina? I know this room isn't as big as ours back home but it'll have to do." She asked before going to lie down on the bed, waiting for her wife to join her.

"I don't know. Something's wrong." She said, laying down on the bed beside her.

"I don't see anything wrong, Jaina. They have the uniforms on, they agreed with my decision and plan." She replied, holding onto her wife warmly.

"It's not that, Blake... Luna's hiding something. Back in the room, I heard something else in his mind. Someone named Jek would disagree with your plan." She said, snuggling closer to the Cat Faunus.

"Probably just another higher ranked Faunus?" She replied, holding onto her.

"Maybe." She said.

Meanwhile, in Luna's quarters at the HQ, he went to contact Jek about Blake's plan and the dangers she represented to the civil war they had set up. He had honour guards stationed outside of his room, only these guards remained fiercely loyal to him, not Blake. Jek received the transmission and accepted it.

"Yes, Lieuten- what are you wearing?" He frowned and asked.

"That is what I wanted to talk to you about, my Lord." He replied.

* * *

 _Present_

The Juggernauts and AT-STs arrived at Mountain Glenn where the scout troopers set up their command post, the extra stormtroopers had spread out while both the 'He's right' and 'Look at this bunker' commanders disembarked and took command of the forces there.

"Yes, my lord, we just arrived and it should take about two days for the AT-AT walkers to arrive." The 'He's right' commander reported to Jek, who was back at Cinder Actual.

"Good. Once they get to your position, the _Commander_ will target the New Republic in Atlas and everything should be in place. Their fleet at the Emerald Forest will divert itself and the ground forces there will be left to deal with." He sounded pleased with the plan gone down.

"Yes, my lord." The commander said before the transmission ended.

"Soon as we get the information we need for the _Beacon_ , I'll head straight towards the little Rose." He commented at his three other commanders with him.

"My lord, might it be time to get one of the prisoners ready for the infiltration?" The Fifth commander reminded him.

"Ah yes, of course. Commander, make sure that this Jaune fellow cooperates with our infiltration team. Once our White Fang friends locate the criminals and persuade them to help us, we'll get onboard and our starfighters will attack so they are distracted." He said to the commander and retold the plan to himself.

"Yes, my lord." The commander agreed and went off to the brig.

With the Fifth commander off to inform Jaune about his involvement, Jek thought about Blake and her wife. If they were going to unite the White Fang back together, the Mandalorians wouldn't be fighting against them in south Mistral nor would the New Republic in Vale. He sensed what his commanders thought when he suggested Luna feed them information on her plans and decisions, he saw that they wanted her dead. He understood their protests since they all came up with the plan for the White Fang civil war.

Meanwhile down in the brig, JPR and Chewie were in a separate holding cell from Solo. They were all seated down and were thinking about Nora. In a situation like this, she would be the one to suggest ideas but with her gone, it was hard on them. For them, it was cold without her, it felt like winter lasted all year but Nora's star was still in the sky so they wouldn't say goodbye, and they didn't want to say goodbye.

One of the stormtrooper sergeants and two troopers approached the cell, unlocking the door and grabbing Jaune. Chewie saw this as an opportunity to escape as he grabbed the sergeant, roaring and tossed him at the two troopers. The three Huntsmen then went to grab the weapons on them.

"What kind of blasters are these?" Jaune asked as he held one in his hands.

"These are Old Empire era blasters, they're official name is E-11. I read about them in the New Republic Archive database, they are more reliable and sturdy than the New Empire's F-11D rifles. Most of these blasters are supposed to be scarce but it seems these troopers probably found a stockpile of them here...wherever we are." Pyrrha answered his curiosity.

Chewie roared but none of them understood him. He stood behind Pyrrha and they assumed that he was ready for whatever was next and that was to find where Solo was being kept. Hugging the wall, they checked their corners, making sure that they didn't encounter any troopers. They came up to a four-way junction where they heard the Fifth commander and an officer being escorted by a group of eight troopers and decided to not engage, avoiding to alert the rest of them.

"As soon as the _Commander_ strikes the New Republic Senate headquarters in Atlas, I want all the troopers in the bunker to remain on stand-by. Is that understood, Lieutenant?" The Fifth commander said to the other officer.

"Yes, sir. I'll personally make sure the troopers are to be ready at all costs should you need them." The lieutenant replied as he turned right at the junction.

They heard the orders given by the Fifth commander and that they were planning to strike at the New Republic Senate headquarters, seeing it as a threat, they needed to alert the New Republic immediately before they would be struck unexpectedly. The dissolution of the New Republic Senate would devastate the New Republic, however a failsafe protocol dictated that in the event of the Head of State's death, the leader of the New Republic would fall to the current Supreme Commander.

* * *

 _After Jek's contact with Grand Admiral Renwil..._

"So if the Head of State is dead, the Supreme Commander is in charge?" Luna asked Jek after he was contacted about a plan.

"Correct. If Leia Organa is killed then Blake and her wife will have no way of allying her White Fang with them. For them, nothing will bring the Faunus her "bright future" and for us..." He chuckled maniacally. "...it'll be a relief." He finished.

"It is a good plan, my lord. Do you think that this _Commander_ can handle what's at Atlas?" He asked about the _Commander_ 's ability.

"From what I remember, the _Commander_ is a large warship. The Empress always said that it would be able to withstand major damage from the weak New Republic ships." He answered, giving insight to the _Commander_.

"I don't know, my lord, I heard those MC80s can take on an Old Empire Star Destroyer." He mentioned the Old Empire's main warship, the _Imperial_ -class Star Destroyer.

"The _Commander_ is a _Resurgent_ -class battlecruiser, Luna, they were developed much better than those Star Destroyers. It is more superior than any other warship on Remnant." He remarked.

"If they are superior than the New Republic's MC80s stand no chance, my lord. What about the New Republic in Mistral?" He asked about the plan's effect on other New Republic forces.

"The New Republic in Mistral is thin according to plan. This Ironwood has called the majority of their fleets and armies to the Emerald Forest. Once Atlas is attacked, all of their ships at the Emerald Forest will divert to Atlas and once that happens, the White Fang remnants in Mistral have a fighting chance to both the New Republic and themselves." He replied.

"And the Mandalorians, my lord?" He questioned.

Jek chuckled. "They will be taken care of in due time, Luna. Right now, our only problem is the New Republic. Once I deal with the Rose, the Mandalorians will be next." He responded.

* * *

 _Meanwhile back on the_ Commander _..._

With the plan set into place, the captain of the _Commander_ made their last preparations and began to load their turbolasers and missile tubes with everything they had that was high explosive and high powered. However, the plan wasn't a priority. What was the priority was the project and the project only. Within the room, the engineers had finished with the last pieces of the Empress' last will and order; the androids.

The captain stood behind the engineers who were getting everything ready and prepared.

"Stand-by... its initiating. The androids should be coming online..." The engineer paused as the androids powered up.

The captain and the other officers went forward to see better. The moment everyone on the _Commander_ waited for had finally come. The android's eyes blinked as it lifted its hands, looking at them in curiosity and placed them down as soon as it saw everyone else looking.

"W-where am I?" Lana's voice echoed in the ears of everyone. For them, it was like she was there but for the android, it held confusion.


	9. Before the Storm

_Location: Blake's White Fang Menagerie HQ_

In the command center of their small HQ building, the Faunus there had gathered to hear what Blake really had to reuniting the White Fang back all together. However, what she had in mind was a little too extreme even for them but it was what she had thought of. For her, it was a change of character, a change in her own methods but she considered it a failsafe plan.

"So what is the plan for the reunification, High Leader?" Luna asked.

Blake prepared herself for what she was going to say. She wasn't sure on how Jaina would react to it but she had to say it.

"I was thinking about the Old Empire's civil war earlier. I heard stories about how Lana Beniko was able to form the New Empire." She started.

"The Old Empire civil war? But that was long ago." He replied.

"Yes, it was but the Old Empire's civil war is like ours. After the death of a major leader, everyone else takes their own command. And that's how Lana did it. I want to do it like that too. We'll gather all of the White Fang remnants leaders to neutral ground and I'll convince them of the Faunus' future." She laid out a plan but was saving the failsafe.

"And if they don't agree?" Another Faunus asked.

"Then..." She paused for a moment. "...we'll use dioxis gas on them. That's how Lana did it with the Old Empire warlords." She explained Lana's method on forming the New Empire.

"Dioxis?" One of the other Faunus asked.

"Hey, if she says this plan will work then I'm with her. If that is how this Lana did it then maybe we can too." Luna agreed.

"But where would be ask them to meet us? Vale, Mistral, Atlas and Vacuo all have New Republic, Mandalorian and White Fang remnants presence in all. No way they would gather on enemy territory knowing they'd probably get ambushed." One of the high ranked Faunus protested.

"Yeah, Remnant's territories are either controlled by an enemy, Grimm or the New Republic." Another agreed.

"The island of Patch is neutral ground. No party, group, faction, organization or government on Remnant owns, or at least have any presence on this island." Jaina placed down a map and pointed to Patch near the city of Vale.

"Hold on... you want to gather them near the New Republic armada at Vale?" The one Faunus protested.

"Why don't we just invite them here? We're all Faunus and Menagerie is considered neutral ground to probably all of them. I know that most of them wouldn't agree to any other place than Menagerie." Cole suggested as the others nodded.

"If that is the case then we are going to need dioxis, a lot of it. I know someone who could provide us with dioxis gas canisters, I can contact him after we're finished." Luna said to the group.

"Then I guess its settled. I'll record a message and Cole, you will send it to all of them when I am finished." Blake said to him as he nodded.

With that finished and discussed, Blake and Jaina went back to her quarters to record the message. While Luna went to contact Jek, his 'contact' he mentioned earlier. However, Jaina sensed that when he mentioned his contact, he heard Jek's name and wanted to learn more about who this person was.

* * *

Meanwhile as the _Organa_ received its order to send Blue Squadron to search for Han Solo at his last known coordinates, James was speaking with Ozpin and Luke about what he was doing. The armada and army he had amassed almost engulfed the Emerald Forest, the fleet hovered over, blocking the sun's rays from reaching the ground below. The ground forces had a command center set up on the Beacon Cliff.

"Its overkill, James. For seven TIE fighters, you amass half of the New Republic Defense Forces at the Emerald Forest." Ozpin said his thoughts on his armada.

"I agree, Oz. It would've been better to just send scouts and have a squadron on stand-by." Luke agreed.

"I'm just being prepared. Remember what happened during the Vytal Festival?" He replied.

"I don't think seven TIE fighters would be able to destroy an entire school or city, James. They aren't exactly Star Destroyers or bombers." Luke replied to him.

"I know. I just want to be more prepared this time. When the New Empire attacked, they killed a lot of good men and students, I told myself that I was going to prevent something like that in the future." James told them the same thing he said to himself.

"That was months ago, Ironwood. Everything's changed now. The remnants of the New Empire made their last stand at Mountain Glenn. All of the Shadow Guards were killed when the Imperial Fortress was destroyed." Luke replied.

Before he could say something back, his scroll was beeping and he had to answer it. On the other end was a New Republic Army general stationed in Mistral.

"Supreme Commander Ironwood, Onyx Squadron in Mistral reported that they have found the TIE fighters. However, two were destroyed after refusing to surrender but the third decided to submit." The general reported.

"General, do not do anything or let that imperial out of your sight until I arrive. Is that understood?" He gave an order to the general.

"Yes, sir. I will ensure he does not escape or move at all." The general accepted his orders. The call had ended and James placed his scroll in his pocket.

"Ozpin, Luke; its been nice talking with you two but I got a date with an imperial." He said before turning around and entered the elevator.

"...who talks like that?" Luke asked Ozpin.

* * *

 _Meanwhile in Mistral..._

The body of a Mandalorian warrior fell to the ground with three bullet holes in his chest. His armour matched those worn by Clan Cadera. Taurus Loyalists Faunus had picked up his weapon and took his armour, leaving his body as a sign of war. The Faunus shouted in victory, firing their weapons to the sky, having won a costly battle against Clan Cadera in retaking the former White Fang's HQ fortress.

The unknown Faunus who led the Taurus Loyalists was revealed to be Angelo, one of Adam's trusted guards who founded the group after his execution by the New Empire in Vale. He wanted to avenge Adam by killing Ruby Rose and all those who stood in his way, including what remained of Teams RWBY and JNPR.

"Angelo, the fortress is now ours again. All of the Mandalorian scum are dead and we are now searching the fortress for anymore who may have possibly hid during the fight." One of Angelo's lieutenants reported to him.

"Good. As soon as we can get ourselves situated back into the fortress, we could plan our final attack on the Reborn groups, Followers and the Mandalorian camp in the south." He replied to the lieutenant.

"Very well. Shall I have scouts recon our enemies' movements?" He asked.

"Yes, lieutenant. Do that. We may need the edge on them if we are going to win." He answered.

The lieutenant nodded and went to notify his scouts for their new assignments. With the Taurus Loyalists now in control of the White Fang's former HQ, the only threat they had in Mistral was a few groups of Reborn White Fang, the Followers of Sienna, the Mandalorian Clan Cadera and the New Republic in the city of Mistral, however they weren't considered a real threat.

* * *

 _A day later; path leading to Mountain Glenn_

The AT-AT walkers had taken a secret, uncharted path to Mountain Glenn to avoid New Republic forces while AT-STs and ground troops had escorted them, protecting them from Grimm they encountered. The AT-AT commander was with the Army pilots who were controlling the movements of the walker.

"Indicate how far Mountain Glenn is, sergeant. We need to be there in time for the assault on Atlas." The commander said to the sergeant.

"We are about twenty mikes out, sir." He replied.

"Let's notify the commander at the Mountain Glenn command post on our location." He said as the other pilot nodded and sent the message to the 'Look at this bunker' commander.

"Yes, the remaining members of Shadow Squadron have returned but Shadows Four, Five and Six, they may have been discovered or killed by the New Republic in Mistral. We've got nothing but static on comms." The 'He's right' commander reported to the 'Yes' commander at the bunker.

The commander sighed on his end. "When this all goes down, there'll be no turning back. You understand that, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, I know. It'll be like the Conflict again, only we are the weak ones this time." He replied.

"The other two commanders and I have been talking about what the Fourth Commander said, talking about a hidden Old Empire fleet. Once Jek and my men get what they need from the Beacon, we'll turn on him." He told him that Jek would kill him for saying.

"What? No, we can't turn our backs on the Supreme Commander. Whether or not we like it, he is the Emperor of what remains of the New Empire. If the Empress' apprentice didn't leave us, we would've fought at Mountain Glenn and perished." He responded to his heresy.

"Jek is no real Force-sensitive. He may have the ability to use this ancient Force religion but he's no Emperor. He's only a Shadow Guard, defender of the Empress and all her advisers. Once he gets what he wants, we're going for that hidden fleet. If you want to stay with Jek then that's your choice." The commander said to him before ending the transmission.

The 'He's right' commander thought about what he said. He wasn't sure on who to follow, either his fellow commanders or Jek 'Nrahom but he had to make a choice really quick because a battle was going to take place here at Mountain Glenn, a battle that he probably wouldn't survive considering the massive army at the Emerald Forest.

* * *

"My lady, can you hear me?" The captain asked the android Lana.

"Yes, captain. What about the Imperial Fortress, is it still standing? Has the New Republic been dealt with?" Android Lana asked.

The captain thought for a second. "It seems... in our moment of victory... the New Republic destroyed it." He answered.

"They what? No, that can't be, captain. The fortress was reinforced with Armosis, the strongest metal on Remnant!" She said as she got out of the pod. "What about my Appr-" She paused as she saw the other android, looking identical to Ruby.

"Empress Beniko, we saved you from the rubble of the Fortress. Brought you on the _Commander_ for revival. And your apprentice. We hoped that one day you would recover from your injuries and plan a retaliation strike." The captain told her what the android Lana was programmed to remember, not the memory of Lana dying.

"My apprentice, is she alright?" Android Lana leaned towards android Ruby's pod.

Before she was activated, the crew in the room had made it look like a medical bay, the engineers were in fact dressed as medical personnel to make it look real, to be make the android believe what she remembered. As a matter in fact, the whole ship went through something similar, everything that depicted or contained anything related to Lana's death were removed and destroyed. Whether or not they liked it, they had to accept the android as their leader now.


	10. Comes our Final Hour

Luna was in his quarters talking to Jek about the dioxis and what Blake had planned for the remnants and the civil war. However Jaina was on her way to Luna as she was curious about who Jek was and wanted answers.

"Yes, my lord. That is the plan she has told us. Personally, do you think it'll be better for us to be ruling the White Fang altogether?" He suggested to Jek.

"If this plan goes through and they all listen, she will attempt to convince them but use dixois as a failsafe?" He questioned.

"Yes, my lord. So I may need the diox-" He was cut off mid-sentence as he felt something tightly grip his throat but didn't see anything.

"You better have not thought about whatever you're planning in the presence of Jaina. She's Skywalker blood, she can hear your thoughts!" He Force-choked him from all the way from the bunker as he tried to breath for air.

"N-no anyone e-el-else would bel-believe her..." He said, losing his breath as Jek let go of him. He started coughing.

"If she discovers our connection, she'll alert Belladonna about our intentions. You will be killed." He gave his warning to the Faunus who was on his knees, catching his breath back.

"But she'll have no evidence, my lord. Even if we are discovered, you could disguise yourself if Belladonna demands proof that you are not who you are. Besides, Cole and Isa are the only two who aren't in my control, all of the Faunus here follow me, they'll defend me with their lives." He told him a potential way of avoiding exposure to Blake and remarked all of the Faunus in the building and outside.

"Disguise? That is not so bad. Very well, Luna. I'll arrange your dioxis but you will need to send your own people to pick it up in the ocean between Vale and Mistral. I don't want to risk any of my troops being spotted." Jek said, agreeing to what Luna was planning.

"Thank you, my lord." He said as the transmission had cut off.

Rubbing his neck, he was unaware of the Force powers he had held. He thought Jek wasn't able to wield such power but now his eyes were open. He later heard Jaina's voice outside of his door, and sounded like his guards weren't going to let her in. He opened the door and told his guards to stand down and allowed Jaina in.

"What brings you here, Jaina? What might I do to ease whatever you need?" He offered politely.

"I wanted to ask you about your contact, the one who'll provide us with the dioxis gas?" She wanted answers, and asking Luna was the most direct approach.

"Ah, well my contact has access to Old Empire equipment and weapons, including the dioxis we need. He's a smuggler of sorts. Does jobs for Lien here and there." He explained Jek as a smuggler rather than a Shadow Guard.

Luna did his very best to not think of Jek being a Shadow Guard, or Force-sensitive. And it worked, but Jaina felt that he was hiding something and she wanted to know what he was hiding.

"What's his name?" She asked.

"Jek 'Zosam. He is an Atlesian; born Atlas, raised in Vacuo and lives in Vale. Normally, I don't trust humans but 'Zosam, he's good people. Very trust worthy, Jaina." He answered with deception.

She could feel the resistance coming from him as well as the energy he was using to conceal something.

"And this.. Jek, he can arrive here with the dioxis, does he run a crew? Cause dioxis is very fragile for one person." She was attempting to persuade him without him knowing.

"No, he is a solo. Doesn't really rely on anyone else. He'll leave the dioxis some place safe to which he'll notify me and I can go and collect it." He answered, hinting that Jek wouldn't want his troopers near Menagerie to keep his secrecy.

"So he just leaves valuable cargo out in the open?" She questioned.

"I did say 'some place safe,' Jaina. He's trust-worthy. Don't worry, we'll have the dioxis should the situation with the remnants leaders don't go well." He reassured her.

She sighed. "Well I think that's about it for me then, Luna. If you say he is who you say he is then I guess I'll go with it." She said to him as she went to the door.

"Why? Were you expecting someone else?" He asked before she could walk out.

She didn't say anything back. She opened the door, closed it behind her and went back to Blake. She thought about it, she felt he was lying about Jek. Behind what he described Jek as, she felt that he would be angered with what he had thought. And that was a hint. She thought that if Jek is someone who wouldn't be happy with Luna lying about him then maybe he is more than just a smuggler friend. She was indeed curious.

* * *

The six AT-AT walkers had arrived at Mountain Glenn and deployed whatever stormtroopers they had garrisoned. The Third and Fourth Commanders had ordered each of the six walkers to a position that were considered to be strong choke points in the ruined city. With most of Jek's forces at Mountain Glenn, the bunker was left almost empty as there was only himself, the First, Second and Fifth Commanders and a small group of stormtroopers, minus the three killed by Chewie.

"Yes, my lord. The AT-ATs have just arrived and we've been notified of the _Commander's_ approach to Atlas, however they scanned a potential danger." The Third Commander reported to Jek.

"A potential danger? What danger, commander?" He asked.

"The _Commander_ scanned the areas surrounding Atlas and have found a single New Republic Nebulon-B frigate above the Senate building. Its been identified as the _Weiss Schnee_ , named after a late Atlesian student." He filled him in on Atlas' defense.

"A single Nebulon-B frigate should not represent a danger, commander. Once they destroy that building, the New Republic armada at the Emerald Forest will move itself and their ground forces will be left alone to which you will distract them. The criminals just arrived and they are onboard with the plan but the children have gotten out of bed." He said to him, telling him the _Weiss Schnee_ was nothing and that Team JPR escaped their cells.

"Very well, my lord. How should I alert their ground forces once the fleet moves?" He asked how he was going to distract the New Republic army.

"Shadow Two will fly over them and will lead them to you. Set ambushes if you must, but make sure that they all go to you. The _Beacon_ will be left undefended, minus its starfighter complements." He replied.

"Yes, my lord. I will make final preparations for the battle." The commander said before ending the transmission.

* * *

Back at the bunker, the remaining troopers looked around the potential areas of where JPR and Chewie would go to, while stationing guards at important areas including the armoury, command center, barracks, motor pool, and the research wing. Jek's three commanders received a transmission from Renwil about Project Resurrection.

"Grand Admiral Renwil, what might we do for you? If you need to speak with Jek then we can get him for you." The First Commander said to him.

"No, I think its best that I just speak with you three only." Renwil said to the trio.

"You said something about a resurrection project, sir. Is that what you wanted to speak to us about?" He mentioned Lana's last resort plan.

"Project Resurrection was the last wish of Empress Beniko, Jek 'Nrahom wasn't notified about it. The Empress never mentioned anything about telling him, the captain of the Commander insisted that we allow the android Lana to tell him herself. Since she has been experiencing memories of Jek, he'll probably become Emperor at her side." Renwil replied to the three commanders, notifying them of the project.

"Android Lana?" The Second Commander asked.

"Yes. Before she was betrayed and killed by Ruby Rose, the Empress took some of her own DNA and memories, and wanted it to be transferred to an android as part of Project Resurrection. She also did the same with her apprentice. Now on the _Commander_ , the two androids are awakened and android Lana is now our leader, and Jek is no longer in control." He explained.

"But he is still Supreme Commander, second-in-command." The Second Commander said to him.

"Indeed, he is. But this is not the New Empire. As much as I do respect 'Nrahom, we need to follow our resurrected Empress. She'll lead us to forming an empire that would replace and serve as the New Empire once again. Jek was only ever a guard given the duties and powers of a Supreme Commander. We're imperial remnants, shadows of the New Empire; I will lead my forces under the command of the Empress, not Jek 'Nrahom." Renwil renounced his allegiance to Jek.

"But you were appointed by Jek himself as Grand Admiral of Vale. You can't just betray him like that." The Second Commander reminded him of his duties, that his rank was junior to Jek's as Supreme Commander.

"And I thank him for that. Despite that, my loyalty and allegiance are with the Empress, and are should yours be as well, commander." He urged the commanders.

"He is right," The Fifth Commander said. "our loyalty is with the Empress. Besides Jek only ever gathered us to find Ruby Rose, and how has our search been, huh? Two and half months spent looking for a self-exiled little girl." He reminded the commanders and told Renwil about what Jek gathered them for.

"I must agree. Jek 'Nrahom has had us been doing nothing. Of course, I know that we should avenge the Empress by finding her apprentice who betrayed her but that's doing nothing to revive the New Empire. We must unite; our forces at Mountain Glenn will most likely not survive their battle but with whoever is remaining and your forces, sir, I think we'd be well enough to revive the New Empire, especially now that the Empress has been resurrected." The First Commander agreed with Renwil about what they should do.

The Second Commander was loyal to Jek despite the threats he gave them. He wasn't sure about android Lana, following android was basically following a Grimm but the android had Lana's personality and memories, he was conflicted. Under the android Lana, the New Empire could return and reclaim what it once held. But Remnant would become a battleground with them against the New Republic, Mandalorians, Beacon Academy, Jedi and the scattered splinter groups of the White Fang.

* * *

Location: the _Commander_ , capital city of Atlas

As the _Commander_ was approaching the New Republic Senate building in the city of Atlas, the _Weiss Schnee_ spotted it on its scanners but before it could alert the New Republic armada in Vale, it was destroyed by the Star Destroyer's hail of lasers and crashed into the city below. The ship then fired all of its turbolaser batteries on the Senate building, killing all those within; Leia Organa, New Republic Senators, guardsmen and soldiers, and civilians.

The survivors gathered each other and tended to the wounded as the _Commander_ began to fly off, hoping to disappear. With other New Republic Army and Atlas Police Department responding to the attack, those at the Emerald Forest were alerted. And to the New Republic and James Ironwood; they'd consider this the Second Imperial-Remnant Conflict.

* * *

 _Your thoughts on the chapter and story so far, as well as about android Lana?_


	11. Our Final Effort

"In what seems to be a deliberate attack, by what the New Republic believes to be the New Empire Navy, against the New Republic Senate building here in Atlas where survivors are being tended by medical personnel as well as Atlas PD officers assisting soldiers in rounding up witnesses who have described a wedged-shaped starship fired a hail of turbolaser fire on the building. Among the casualties are the crew of the _Weiss Schnee_ , a ship stationed as the defender of the building and flagship of Chief of State Leia Organa herself. It has also been confirmed that Leia Organa is also among the casualties." The Atlas News reporter was at the aftermath of the _Commander's_ attack.

With the New Republic Senate and its Chief of State killed and all murdered, the chain of command dictated that James Ironwood was to be given the duties and powers as leader of the New Republic, and without a political and governmental section, the New Republic was now only a military.

"With his position as leader of the New Republic, this is what the New Republic general of the army had to say about Ironwood." She said as the footage had shown the general of the army from the _Beacon_.

"We are, indeed, confident that James Ironwood will do his best to leading the New Republic. Without Leia Organa, there are going to be changes, of course, a lot of changes that will impact both Atlesian affairs and foreign as well. Without the Senate, the other Kingdoms will be left unattended. And to make sure everyone knows, we are diverting the fleet gathered at the Emerald Forest to searching Atlas for the ship that attacked the building." The general of the army told the people of Remnant.

In Menagerie, Jaina, Blake and Luna were watching the broadcast in their room. Jaina was deeply affected by what they said, it was the explanation of why they couldn't get through to her mother when they called her in Atlas. She felt her life force gone.

"Jaina...?" Blake said, looking at her wife who was completely silent.

"New Empire, huh? I didn't think those guys existed anymore. It'll be crazy if they had a hidden fleet, huh?" Luna said as they were watching.

"Luna, leave us. I wanna be alone with Jaina." She said as he looked at her.

"Of course, Belladonna." He said as he got up and went to the door. "I'll see if my contact made the drop and I'll go collect the dioxis." He finished as he opened the door and walked out.

Blake turned off the TV they were using to watch the news. She noticed tears in her wife's eyes and went to hug her closely, comforting her the way a wife should. Her wife began to cry and she just held her close, letting her warmth flow through her body.

With Leia gone and the New Republic Senate dissolved and with James Ironwood now the leader of the New Republic, they was no way that Blake's plan with the New Republic would work. They were at a loss, Jaina was at a loss.

* * *

Meanwhile at the bunker, JPR continued to sneak themselves around the place. They heard a group of troopers marching and they hid.

"TK-394, take 11 and 38 to the south section. TK-683, take 66 and 274 to the north. The rest of us will search this area." The stormtrooper sergeant gave out orders to the troopers behind him. 394 and 683 followed their orders and took the troopers to their respective searching areas.

"Hey, I got an idea. Let's disguise ourselves as troopers." Pyrrha suggested as they saw the three remaining troopers coming their way.

"What?! I'm not putting on that armour!" Jaune protested.

"Come on, Jaune. We're not going anywhere looking like this." Ren agreed with Pyrrha's suggestion.

As the troopers got near them, Chewie roared, grabbing the sergeant and tossing him to the side. Ren shot his E-11 at the trooper on the right while Pyrrha shot the left one. They knew that the blaster bolts probably echoed through the empty halls. As they prepared the next step of Pyrrha's plan, she asked Chewie to act as a prisoner to them in order to find Solo. Chewie liked Pyrrha.

After putting on the stormtrooper armour, they felt uncomfortable in them. Mainly because they didn't wear armour like this most of their lives as the troopers did. Without heels, Pyrrha was short in the armour while Jaune and Ren remained tall.

"Ugh. This armour is really uncomfortable, guys." Jaune complained.

"You'll be fine, Jaune." She said to the Arc and she then turned over to Chewie." Okay, big guy, you're turn." She said, using the cuffs she found on the sergeant. Chewie roared in agreement.

To their surprise, the First Commander had come around the corner of where they were going to turn. Before they were approached, Pyrrha told Chewie to not do anything until they could find out where Solo was.

"Yes, and I want troopers searching the east and west quadrants for the children." He was telling the lieutenant beside him until he noticed them. "Ah, you troopers found the Wookiee. Good." He said as they nodded.

"Yes, sir. We found him sneaking around." She answered like every other trooper in the bunker.

"Very well. Now it is clear he will escape again. Sergeant, I want you to follow the lieutenant to where Solo is located and I want you all stationed there. Understood?" The First Commander ordered, waiting for a response from them.

"Yes, sir." She said as the lieutenant gestured his hand for them to follow him.

As they began to escort Chewie to wherever the lieutenant was taking them, they overheard the P.A. system telling all troopers to report to the hanger bay as they were going to raid the _Beacon_ in Vale now that the New Republic armada was away. Shadow Two took off and went to alert the New Republic ground forces.

"Sergeant, let's hurry. We don't want to keep the brass waiting. Pick up the pace, now!" He ordered as they began to jog. Chewie did as well.

They saw other troopers run by them, officers were in front of groups of troopers. They got to where Solo was kept and there were no guards watching the door to the secondary brig.

"Sergeant, get the Wookiee inside and let's move on to the hanger." The lieutenant ordered.

"Uh, sorry sir but..." Pyrrha said to him before Chewie broke out of the cuffs, roared and grabbed the officer, tossing him into the wall violently.

They went into the room and saw that it looked more like a Warden's quarters and saw Solo in a cell. He looked up and saw Chewie and the disguised JPR.

"I told you buckets before, I don't know anything else about the _Beacon_. I'm not part of its personnel." He said as he sat down.

Ren went forward and took off the stormtrooper's helmet. "We're not here to interrogate you, Han." The Huntsmen said to the Solo as he stood and grinned.

"Look at you, kid. I think you look good in stormtrooper armour." He replied to him as he smiled back.

"Okay, I got the cell gate card." Pyrrha said as she went to unlock Han's cell and let him out.

Solo walked out of the cell, went over to the desk and picked up his DL-44. The others looked up at him.

"Let's get out of here." He said to them.

* * *

As Shadow Two approached the Emerald Forest, the forces there were ordered to begin their searches within the southern regions of Vale to find any evidence of where the seven TIE fighters came from but before they could take off and follow their orders, most of them spotted the TIE fighter flying high above them and straight towards the direction of Mountain Glenn; where the Third and Fourth Commanders were waiting with their forces to challenge them.

"Sir!" An officer rushed into the command center of the New Republic army's staging area where a New Republic general of the army was.

"I see, Kells. That fighter must be heading back to its base. Colonel, alert everyone that we are following that fighter." He replied to the officer who had rushed in.

With that, the general of the army's forces had begun to move and follow the fighter. However, there were some among them who believed that the fighter was probably flying over them to attract their attention in hopes of them being followed towards a trap set up, which was true.

"Glenn Actual, I am un-sure of whether or not they are going to follow my direction." Shadow Two sent a relay over to the command post at Mountain Glenn.

"Negative, Shadow Two. They will follow. If they are war-hungry then they will follow your path. Link up with the rest of Shadow Squadron at Cinder Actual immediately." Glenn Actual replied and gave him his next orders.

"Copy, Glenn Actual. Returning to Cinder Actual. Shadow Two out." He replied and flew back to the bunker.

* * *

Back at the bunker's hanger, Jek was briefing the men he had with him. The First and Fifth Commanders were standing with a group of their loyal officers and lieutenants while the Second Commander stood beside 'Nrahom and his loyal lieutenants. Jek felt the division between his three commanders, however he couldn't exactly feel why they were divided.

"Listen up, troops. Three months ago, the Empress was killed. Not by the New Republic, or the Mandalorians, or the Jedi but by one of our own. Ruby Rose, she was the apprentice of Empress Beniko and when our enemy finally got their chance at the Empress, the Rose betrayed her at the sight of defeat. She will be remembered always as a coward. But now the New Republic knows where she is, and on their command ship in Vale, we will have her location... that traitor will be killed! We will avenge the Empress!" He held his right arm up high as they did as well.

The Second Commander was signaled to speak up. "The criminals, who will assist in the infiltration, have stolen a New Republic cargo freighter which we will use to enter the _Beacon_. From there, we will overwhelm the ship's crew and hopefully we will take the ship for ourselves. Shadow Squadron will engage New Republic fighters after we've taken care of the hanger personnel. Shadow Leader." He explained the plan to them and allowed Shadow Leader to notify them about his part of the plan.

"Thank you, sir. Now, my squadron and Renwil's pilots will distract any New Republic fighters that deploy from the ship. With the TIE/SF fighters we discovered, we will have an advantage over the enemy. Until the Supreme Commander gets what he needs, we'll be right outside." Shadow Leader explained his squadron's part in the plan.

As everyone of the troopers got into the freighter, the First and Fifth Commanders stayed and waited for Renwil to pick them up. Jek agreed with their decision to join Renwil's group in Vacuo and the Second Commander said nothing about Project Resurrection to Jek at all. His allegiance was still in conflict, and they were about to board one of the New Republic's main command ships. The past two and a half months, they observed the _Beacon_ , seeing it as one of the most important ships in the Vale Fleet. Both Mercury and Emerald were also at Jek's side, and they knew who he was. They both knew that he and other Shadow Guards were with Lana when she Force-choked Cinder in front of them.

"When the Faunus said we'd be working with a very important person, I didn't think it'd be one of you guys." She said, looking at 'Nrahom, who was wearing his noticeable red Shadow Guard combat armour.

"Ah, yes. I remember you now. Hurts, I know. Seeing your mistress being killed by an enemy in front of you. I know you won't agree or say that I don't know but I do." He replied. "Just as you loved your mistress, I loved mine as well. And that's one thing we got in common, Emerald... both of our mistresses never returned the feelings we felt for them." He finished. She couldn't think of anything else to say, because she knew it was true.

Just as the freighter took off, Han, Chewie and JPR came running out of the door and began to fire at the freighter, later at the Commanders who ordered their troops to fire back.

"They got away." Han said as they went behind cover to avoid being shot.

"There were in a New Republic freighter. They're probably going to Atlas!" Pyrrha panicked.

Chewie roared, firing his bowcaster at the troopers who went flying backwards due to the power of the bolts fired from the Wookiee's heavy weapon.

"If we had communications, we could alert the New Republic in Atlas, or maybe the New Republic in Vale, catch 'em off by surprise!" Ren suggested.

"Make sure those scum are dead!" The First Commander said to his troops as he fired his blaster pistol at the General and Huntsmen.

For about three minutes, they exchanged shots at each other until the hanger bay doors had opened once again, Renwil's dropships had arrived where more stormtroopers deployed and began to provide cover for the two Commanders as they jumped onboard. A few troopers were killed by Han and his team before the rest got onto the dropship and flew off.

"Well we should head back into the bunker. Find out where this command center of theirs is at." Han said as they walked back to the door they came running from.

The Second Imperial-Remnant Conflict was about to begin, but Jek and the New Republic knew it probably wouldn't last long considering the small manpower of the Imperial remnants. And the division of what remained, however what he didn't know was android Lana was taking control of what remained of the real Lana's New Empire. Renwil explained to the captain of the _Commander_ that they wouldn't allow the android Lana near Jek as he would expose what happened to the real Lana. A war was upon Remnant. This time, everyone was ready for it.

* * *

 _Your reviews are much appreciated!_


	12. To Burn the Roses

While on the way to Mistral, Ironwood was notified of the Senate's destruction and told his pilot to rush over there immediately. He then told his lieutenant to send a message to the admiral in command of the fleet he had amassed to have the fleet deploy to Atlas. He was also notified that the Imperial pilot that surrendered was killed by a New Republic security guard.

"What's the situation in Atlas? Were there any survivors of the attack?" Ironwood asked the Atlesian general of the army in command of the New Republic Atlesian division.

"There are only some survivors, sir. But... Leia Organa is not one of them." He replied.

James stood quiet upon hearing that. His best friend was gone, the one person he understood the most. Eventually everyone who knew Leia was affected. Luke, the same as Jaina, felt the disturbance when she was killed. Han was deeply affected by her death the most, his ex-wife gone, the woman he fell in love with all those years ago. Gone. But that wasn't the end, the New Empire remnants were on the loose and the New Republic were the ones looking for them.

* * *

"The freighter we saw leave the hanger was New Republic. If they aren't going to Atlas then we don't know where." Pyrrha said to the captain of the _Beacon_.

"Blue Squadron found nothing when they searched that area. But they did find the _Falcon_ not far from the antenna dish." The captain replied. "Also did you see the hull classification on the freighter before it took off?" He asked.

"No, unfortunately. We were unable to see it. We ran into the hanger as it was taking off." Ren answered.

The captain sighed. "That's gonna make things a lot harder. We got hundreds of cargo freighters coming in and out of Vale during the day. Oh yeah, there's a lot going on at Mountain Glenn right now. The general of the army's forces have engaged a New Empire force at the ruins. General, if you are back in the fight then I suggest going over there to provide air support." The captain said to them.

"Of course, time to babysit soldiers." Was all he said.

* * *

When the New Republic army reached Mountain Glenn, they were engaged by Cinder Three, one of the six AT-ATs the Commanders found out were part of Cinder Squadron, an Old Empire AT-AT brigade. The ruined city became another battleground like the one two months ago.

"I want sniper teams, here, here and here. And the TX-130 tank will provide covering fire for our troops on the north side." The Third Commander gave his orders to his troops.

"Yes, sir. I'll notify the scouts to get their rifles ready. What about the Juggernauts, sir?" The lieutenant asked.

"They will stay where they are. When Lord 'Nrahom gets the information on the Empress' murderer from the _Beacon_ , we'll need to use the Juggernauts for a quick escape." He replied to the lieutenant.

"Very well." The lieutenant said as he walked off.

A group of troopers were running from one position to another as they had orders. Blaster bolts had hissed and snapped by them with two of them being hit.

"This is Cinder One, the New Republic troopers are bringing in M-45 repeating ion blasters! They're going to tak-" The transmission had cut off as the AT-AT's front legs were struck by ion bolts, disengaging the support of its legs and causing it to fall forward.

In terms of weapons, the New Republic army had an advantage over the Commanders' forces. The ion blasters and grenades they had proved effective against the Old Empire walkers and vehicles. With Cinder One destroyed, the New Republic began to advance further into the city, however Cinder Two was stationed not far from One's position.

"Sergeant! Take care of those M-45 troops! We need to hold back the enemy, keep them from getting to the command post!" An officer shouted orders.

As the battle was going on, the battle droids with Jek's faction were B1 and B2 models. The B1s were similar to Atlesian Knight line of androids while the B2s were much more taller and armoured. Due to M-45 troops on the battlefront, these battle droids were being destroyed quickly.

* * *

Within the stolen cargo freighter, Emerald had forgotten to mention that the freighter they stole was going to the _Beacon_ to deliver uniforms, supplies and food resources to the ship. Jek then had an idea; his troops put on New Republic Fleet security personnel uniforms while the Second Commander, his officers and the three criminals put on New Republic officer uniforms and were going to present Jek 'Nrahom as their prisoner.

"Are you sure this will work? We've been on the _Beacon_ a few times, they will notice us three." Emerald protested as she had the uniform on, standing beside Jek.

"From the information we gathered on the _Beacon_ , its the only ship in the New Republic that has had its personnel changed since the last time you and your associates were onboard. So yes, I am certain your disguise will not be broke, Emerald." He replied to her.

"My lord, once we find the information... how are you going to get to the traitor's location?" The Second Commander asked.

"I have a way, Commander. I always do." He answered.

As the freighter approached the city of Vale, the _Beacon_ was hovering above the river leading to the Academy but was facing towards the city itself. The pilots onboard saw X-wings, A-wings, and B-wings flying patrol along the river and around the cruiser. Before they got close to the city limits, Shadow Squadron and Renwil's pilots were called off and were ordered to join the forces at Mountain Glenn.

"NR cargo freighter _Vale_ , you are approaching the MC80 command ship _Beacon_. Transmit clearance codes to be allowed docking with the _Beacon_ , immediately!" The pilots received a transmission from the _Beacon's_ command crew.

"Copy that, _Beacon_. Transmitting clearance codes now." The pilot replied, transmitting the codes to the ship.

On the _Beacon's_ command bridge, the captain was looking at solutions to finding the freighter that was stolen and with Han's team going to Mountain Glenn, Shadow Squadron was in for a surprise.

"Sir, the _Vale_ has arrived. They've transmitted clearance codes and I cleared them to dock with the ship." Bride reported to the captain.

"Thank you, Bride." The captain replied.

As the _Vale_ docked with the _Beacon_ , there were personnel waiting to collect the cargo on the freighter. The doors had opened, revealing Jek in cuffs and everyone else in disguise. The ship's deck officer told his personnel to unload the cargo on the freighter while he told the disguised Emerald, who had the uniform of an Admiral, that he was going to have a lieutenant escort them to the brig where Jek was to be taken too.

"Follow me, ma'am, and I'll take you to the brig." The lieutenant said to them as they began to follow him.

With Jek's troops disguised as Fleet security personnel, none of the New Republic suspected a thing about them at all. However, everyone noticed Jek, a captured Shadow Guard. The captain was notified by the deck officer about his arrival as the prisoner. Without a thought, the captain immediately told him to stall whoever was escorting him.

"Where is the intelligence center, lieutenant?" Emerald asked the officer.

"The intelligence center is located on the upper north quadrant, ma'am. Do you need to get there?" He replied.

"Upper north quadrant, got it. Well thank you, lieutenant but your usefulness has run out." She said as she raised her officer's blaster at him, firing into his stomach as he fell to the ground.

"Some infiltration." One of the troopers said.

"Yes... some infiltration." Jek said, looking at Emerald.

"Lieutenant! Lieutenant!" They heard the dead lieutenant's comlink.

"Either the deck officer found the troopers' armour in the freighter, or he's just in love with his lieutenant; we should be going before someone sees this body." Mercury said the last second as two officers turned at the corner to which they were spotted.

"Halt! In the name of the New Republic!" One of the officers shouted.

"You had to open your mouth, huh?" One of the disguised troopers said.

As the officers approached, they asked how the lieutenant was killed, and they replied with Jek doing it. He then grew tired of sneaking around and just disengaged his cuffs, and began to Force-choke the two officers. Emerald, Mercury, Neo and the troopers stepped back a bit. He then pulled out a lightsaber, slashing at the officers to finish them off.

"Now let's just get to the intelligence bay and find that little brat, hmm?" He said as they all began to head towards the upper north quadrant.

As they were walking along the hallway, Jek was in front of them. The disguised troopers kept their weapons cocked and ready to handle any soldiers or security who would get in their way. As they walked out of an elevator, they went north as they were on the second floor above the one below and the floor below the one above.

"If security does not find those troopers with the Shadow Guard then I'm initiating the Schnee Protocol." The captain said to the crew around him.

"You're going to scuttle the _Beacon_ , sir?" Bride asked with concern.

"We cannot let this ship fall into the hands of the enemy, Bride. If they gain access to this ship's database, they will uncover sensitive New Republic information." The captain replied to his bridge officer.

"Captain, something's wrong! There is unauthorized access to the Ruby Rose file, coming from the intelligence center." One of the command crew went up to the captain.

"The Ruby Rose file? Who would look into it, there's nothing in there but documented locations." The captain replied.

* * *

"What is this!?" Jek said as he Force-choked one of the Intelligence officers.

The officer attempted to breath for air. "S-s-sh-she se-s-s-sel-self..." He tried to answer but ran out of breath and died.

Jek was absolutely furious about this find. He had hoped this folder was going to contain Ruby's location but rather it only contained locations the New Republic had documented and thought where she would be if they ever needed to find her. One of the Intelligence officers were bleeding out from the firefight earlier, and Jek went up to him, kneeling down.

"Tell me," He said as he looked at the rank plaque on her shirt. "second lieutenant, where can I find Ruby Rose? Why are there so many locations in that folder?" He said as he pressed down on the officer's wound.

"Ru-Ruby Rose exiled herself!" The officer replied in pain. "That's the idea of self-exile. We don't know where she is exactly! Those locations are places that we think she may be in." She finished.

"My lord, one of these locations are close by, its on the island of Patch." The Second Commander said to Jek as he looked through the folder.

In the folder, there were many locations. Before Yang left to join Clan Cadera, she was asked to help New Republic Intelligence with the locations of her little sister, she had admitted that she didn't even know where she went. Many within the New Republic and Beacon Academy knew that the deaths of her bestfriends Weiss Schnee and Nora Valkyrie were factors in her self-exile as well as the experiences Lana gave her; the execution of Adam Taurus at her own hands.

"Download everything in that folder. It will help me in my search." Jek ordered as the Second Commander did as he was ordered.

"Attention personnel of the _Beacon_ , this is the captain speaking. We've been infiltrated by a team of Imperials, as of now, I am initiating the Schnee Protocol, Article 5. Report to your stations immediately!" The captain sent a message to everyone on the ship.

"That's probably the protocol Solo was talking about. Commander?" He said as everyone went to the door.

The Second Commander pulled out a scroll he took from one of the dead officers. "Got it, my lord. All of the folder's contents have been downloaded into this scroll." He said as he gave it to him.

Outside of the door, they saw New Republic Defense Fleet personnel running by, possibly to the hanger bay or escape pods. Aside from the personnel of the ship getting off the ship, the captain wanted to make sure everyone was off first before he would get off.

"I know you are listening, Shadow Guard..." The captain spoke directly to Jek. "My command crew were notified of your access to Ruby Rose's file. Disappointed? I know, we were too. But you will not find Ruby Rose. Believe me, we tried to locate her for the past three months since she disappeared." The captain said.

"My lord, we must move. If the Schnee Protocol is to kill us then I fear we must leave now." The Commander said as everyone had ran out and back to the hanger bay.

Jek and his men went back to the hanger bay to use the freighter they came with to get off the ship. Killing New Republic personnel who got in their way.

* * *

The bodies of Faunus had fallen to the floor as dioxis gas filled the room. Krim, Angelo, and some of the leaders from the Vacuo-Atlas White Fang groups didn't agree to Blake's plan. However, only half of the leaders from Vacuo and Atlas agreed. The only White Fang remnant leader who didn't come to Menagerie was the Lieutenant from Vale, he wasn't about to follow and work with a deserter.

"So what now?" One of the leaders from Atlas asked Blake.

Jaina felt something in Blake just awakened, a change in her character. With the Followers of Sienna, Taurus Loyalists, and the Vacuo-Atlas White Fang emerged into hers, she had power. A lot of power. And Jaina didn't like it at all.

 _End of Blake and Jaina's arc for this story._


	13. And the Frost

An AT-AT had fallen to the ground, destroyed with its crew lost, it was Cinder Three. Despite the efforts by the Commanders' forces, the New Republic army had been advancing through the defenses with ease. The M-45 ion repeaters helped them with the walkers. With the arrival of Shadow Squadron and Renwil's fighters, the New Empire remnant had a fighting chance against the Republic troops.

"This is Cinder Four, the enemy is advancing towards my position. We need assistance, those M-45s will tear us down!" The commander of Cinder Four saw the New Republic's M-45 troops moving towards them.

Troopers around the walker then formed a defensive line about fifteen meters away from it in order to hold back the New Republic soldiers.

"There's the fourth walker! Get into position, men!" A sergeant had ordered before being engaged by stormtroopers.

"Sergeant, we have no shot. We cannot fire on the walker while being shot at!" The M-45 trooper said to the sergeant.

"Look out! Its gonna fire!" One of the soldiers shouted as Cinder Four had fired at them, killing them all.

"Good shot, Four!" One of the troopers on the ground relayed in comms.

With the ruined city a former and current battleground, the crashed Resurgent Star Destroyers, MC80s, and frigates proved to be useful cover for ground forces of both sides. The command post was located on the south side of the city, where it was safe from all the laser fire going on.

"Commander, I have orders from Jek that you must stand your ground. No matter the odds you're facing." The Second Commander sent a message to the two Commanders there.

"What? No! We've already lost three AT-AT walkers, and almost half of Shadow Squadron and Renwil's fighters. We've spotted incoming MC80s from the north! We won't be able to hold this city any longer." The Third Commander replied.

"Well I guess I can say this now since Jek isn't here, but... to hell with it, retreat! If the New Republic fleet is coming back then you're definitely not going to survive." The Second Commander said to the commander.

"Wait, isn't there? What do you mean, is Jek gone? Was he killed?" The Fourth Commander walked in and immediately joined in on the conversation when he heard Jek was gone.

"Yes, he's gone, and no, he's not dead. We didn't find the exact location of Ruby Rose, but rather several locations... he left to search all of them." The commander replied.

"Good riddance, he was the worst." The Third Commander replied.

"I'm taking what troops I have with me back to the bunker. I'm not following the orders of anyone else than Jek 'Nrahom." He said to the two commanders.

"Grand Admiral Renwil requested ALL of us report to his command once Jek found what he was looking for. And that means you, commander." The Fourth Commander replied to what he said.

"No! My loyalty and allegiance lies with Jek, not Renwil, or android Lana. I refuse to follow a betraying Grand Admiral or a machine." He replied and ended the transmission between him and the two commanders.

Shadows Five and Six were about to strafe on a New Republic M-45 trooper squad but they were destroyed by the _Millennium Falcon_ 's quad laser cannons, controlled by Ren and Jaune.

"Good to have you in the fight, General Solo." One of the M-45 troopers relayed out to Solo.

"Yeah, yeah. Thank me later." He responded.

As the battle raged, the New Republic seemed to have burned through the defenses of the Imperials faster than the Grimm did when the city was actually a city. Cinder Four fell to the ground as the M-45 troops continued to advance alongside assault tanks. The fighters from the _Beacon_ were engaging against what was left of Shadow Squadron and Renwil's fighters.

In the leading ship on the way to Mountain Glenn, the _Nora Valkyrie_ had deployed all of its docked fighters to assist those already at the battle. Gial Ackbar, a veteran who fought during the Empire-Republic war commanded the ship with high respect for the late Nora Valkyrie who fought with the New Republic and Beacon Academy during the First Imperial-Remnant Conflict.

"Attention ground forces, this is Fleet Admiral Ackbar of the New Republic Defense Fleet; I am alerting everyone to clear out of the ruined city immediately! We are commencing bombardment as soon as we come in range." He warned the army at Mountain Glenn.

Unknown to the Imperial forces, the New Republic army forces retreated as ordered while the Commanders' forces began to push forward, thinking that they were scaring off their enemies. However the fighters didn't retreat and continued to engage the Imperial fighters as they weren't in the firing lane of the cruisers' line of sight.

"The New Republic are retreating...?" The Fourth Commander said as he and the other personnel were confused.

"The troops are pushing against them." The Third Commander replied.

"Wait, hold on... detecting an incoming MC80 cruiser to the north. Its the _Nora Valkyrie_!" One of the radar technicians reported movement.

"Admiral, we are in range of the city. The turbolasers and ion cannons are locked onto the Imperial forces, shall I give the all-clear?" One of Ackbar's bridge officers reported to him.

"Affirmative, lieutenant. Make those Imperials disappear." He replied to the officer.

With his all-clear confirmation, the _Nora Valkyrie_ , and its sister ships as well as frigate escorts began firing on the Imperial command post as well as bombarding the other Imperials in the area who were attempting to escape. In a hail of turbolaser and ion cannon fire, the two Commanders shook hands with each other, saying their goodbyes and told it was an honour to be serving with one another before being killed. The New Republic ground forces began to search after the bombardment for survivors in which they would either arrest or execute.

For the New Empire remnants, it wasn't the end. Renwil notified all of his forces that they were joining the _Commander_ as it was on its way to his location. The android Lana was revealed to whoever was loyal to her that she was taking command of what remained of the real Lana's empire. With Jek finding the information he wanted to finding Ruby Rose, he was completely unaware of the android Lana. The Second Commander returned to the bunker, assuming command of his forces and those loyal to Jek 'Nrahom.

In the next week after android Lana's assumed command of the New Empire remnants, there were pockets of groups in Mistral, Vacuo and Atlas who reappeared and joined her in what would be called the **Resurrection of the New Empire** , an era of order revived by an android.

* * *

 _Several weeks later..._  
 _Location: Unknown village, north-east Vale coast_

After weeks of searching for Ruby Rose, having been to all locations except an unknown village named Akai Bara, a secluded abandoned settlement on the coastal beaches of north-east Vale. Jek 'Nrahom had arrived, hoping that he would find the traitor and kill her for what she did to Lana Beniko. He looked around, seeing the houses in ruin, nothing was moving but the leaves and loose wood planks that were being blown by the wind breeze as snow began to fall. He eventually got on the other side of the settlement, to which the beaches and ocean were visible. He stood there, thinking.

"You know _Akai Bara_ means Red Roses..." He heard a voice to his right and saw her what he thought was meditating.

"You." He said in pure anger.

"This was where my mother was raised... my grandfather, grandmother... all used to live here." She said to him, but knew that he didn't care at all about what she was saying.

He activated the lightsaber he had with him. Ruby didn't do anything to prepare herself, she just looked at him.

"I know why you are here. From the looks of your armour, you're here to kill me, right?" She had a good look of his combat armour. He looked down at himself before looking back up at her.

"You took someone very important from me. I spent almost four months looking for you." He replied. She got up and turned to his direction.

"Four months? That's how long its been?" She asked herself.

"Time no longer matters, girl. You killed the woman I loved, the woman I was willing to give my life for! Now I'll kill you, to put an end to your exile!" He began to shout at her and raised his blade.

"And I loved Lana too!" She shouted back, he lowered his lightsaber. "I loved everything she gave me, but when she ordered me to kill Adam Taurus... can you imagine, that as a kid, the pressure you feel being ordered to kill someone? To take another life despite them being bad people?" She said to him. "I realized... that wasn't Ruby Rose. I didn't wanna leave Lana either, but I had too. To find myself again, to see the girl I was before all this." She continued.

"I didn't come to listen to your apologies!" He raised his blade again. It then began to snow a little faster.

"I don't want to apologize. I just want you to acknowledge that I loved Lana the same as you do." She then pulled out a picture of Lana before the Battle of Beacon. "Its cold without her, I feel like winter lasts all year... but her star's still in the sky... so I won't say goodbye..." She finished.

Jek raised his lightsaber, just to where the end of it was close enough to Ruby's neck. She knew he wasn't listening, and had to do what she needed.

* * *

 _To be continued..._


	14. A Fading Rose, the Rising Frost

" _I am not like other Shadow Guards, mistress Rose. Unlike the rest you see around you, I am the Empress' personal Shadow Guard. I command her armies and fleet, but of course not overruling her orders._ " Ruby remembered Jek saying that to her within the Imperial Fortress when Lana was alive.

But all she could see in front of her was an angered bodyguard who wasn't going to listen to any negotiation or plea to right a wrong. She continued to dodge his attacks by jumping out of the way, or behind him.

" _By the Order of Empress Beniko of the New Empire, I grant you, Kal-saii Renwil, the rank Grand Admiral of the Kingdom of Vale._ " She heard the time of when Jek gave Renwil the rank of Grand Admiral, which she was present beside Lana.

She remembered a lot about Jek everytime he struck his attacks at her. She understood the pain he felt for losing Lana. She didn't want to fight back at all, she was done with all of that and wanted to just remain alone.

" _But just know if you ever betray the Empress, I will hunt you down myself and stick my blade right through your chest._ " She heard his warning in her head when she looked into his helmet's visor.

Deep down, she was sorry for whatever she did to him, but as Jek said, he didn't come to listen to her apologies. He continued to try and kill her, throwing his lightsaber strikes at her but to no avail.

"Stop running, and fight back!" He shouted.

"You're in too much pain already." She replied.

"That matters not! I will be free if you kill me!" He shouted again.

He charged at her, hoping to kill her with one strike but she got out of the way. He was furious about her not wanting to fight back, but realize it was probably because she didn't anything to combat him with.

"Then perhaps this..." He pulled out something belonging to her and tossed it at her feet. "will persuade you." He said as she picked up the lightsaber given to her by Lana.

"W-where did you find this?" She asked, holding firmly onto the hilt, examining it.

"I found it on top of Lana's gravestone, where you left it." He revealed where his last location was.

When Lana was killed, her body was buried in the Forever Fall forest by the staff of Beacon Academy to which her funeral was only attended by Beacon Academy personnel. Ruby remembered watching from afar, and after everyone left, she went to leave her lightsaber on Lana's gravestone.

"I told you this would happen. Betray the Empress, I'll find you no matter what." He said to her.

She turned on the lightsaber, hearing its familiar hum sound and its blood-red blade that shined. She closed her eyes, opening them to see Lana's Force ghost standing beside Jek, with an angerful facial expression. She knew Jek wasn't going to leave her alone, to allow her to think so she just submitted to whatever he wanted.

She held the lightsaber in a ready stance. Jek smiled within his helmet. They charged at each other, she was dragging the blade along the ground while he held his up high. Upon reaching each other, she waved her hand aside his, causing him to swing his lightsaber to the other direction to which she brought up hers and upper cut him, making contact with his chest plate and helmet. He fell down and she turned around to him.

He turned over his body, revealing the lightsaber burn skid mark from his chest plate to his helmet. "Ha ha ha..." He chuckled in slight pain. "Would you look at that?" He said, spitting out blood.

"You forced me to do that. You were giving me no choice!" She said to him.

He got up, brushing the snow off of himself. He took off his helmet, revealing the scarred face he had hid under the helmet. His hair was graying as well, showing how old he was.

"Lana found me a broken man, she trained me since. When I proved her safety was a lot more important than my own life, she bestowed me her Shadow Guard, the one to command her armies and fleet. But she turned away from when you showed up, Red." He told her the emotional stress he felt about Lana.

"Its not my fault!" She shouted. He growled and rushed towards her, throwing a strike with all of his might.

She raised her blade, blocking his attack and caused him to recoil back. He used his left hand and emitted Force-lightning from it towards Ruby. It came as a surprise, she didn't have time to block and went flying back off the small cliff and onto the beach below them. She got up, recovering while smoking from the lightning that hit her. He landed on the sand with both feet.

They both looked at each other with determination. Despite not wanting to go back to a life where fighting was the only option, she considered this something of a final test against Lana's Dark Side corruption, death meant failure while redemption meant freedom. Jek enjoyed the every bit they were having, he wanted her gone and to know she was dead by his blade than someone else's.

The snow falling on them signified something; the roses that grew across Remnant was starting to fade, dying from the cold they felt as winter began to roll in. The frost were the ones killing them off.

He reignited his lightsaber as she did the same, they both couldn't run, and both didn't want too. It was their duel, Lana sure would've been amused if she were watching.

They both ran at each other and threw their own strikes, locking in when they made contact. The blades clashed together, sparks were made, sounds were heard. Locked into together, he began to push strongly towards her who attempted to push back but couldn't. She quickly let her left hand go of the hilt and Force-pushed Jek away from her so she could have breathing room.

"That's impressive, Red. But your Force powers are inferior compared to mine!" He said as he holstered his lightsaber and made a bright ball in his hands, charging it up to a electrifying shock and launched towards her.

Unable to quickly react to what was coming her way, she was hit by it and high power electricity went throughout her body, immobilizing her. He took the opportunity and rushed towards her, sending his blade right through her chest. The electricity wore off, she felt the blade pierce her body as she looked into his eyes and saw nothing but anger and hatred.

Ruby's entire life flashed before her eyes, she remembered the day she was born, the looks of everyone's face. She remembered all of the birthdays, all of the family and friends she made; her sister, uncle, father, mother, and her friends at Signal. She even had gotten a glimpse into what her future held; a loving husband and two children. The last thing she ever saw was Summer and Weiss, whom she was reunited with.

He took the blade out of her and she fell to the sand. "Resurrection..." Were her dying words. He looked down at her as she said that, he was confused but that didn't bother him. He fulfilled his mission, his duty.

He took the lightsaber out of her dead hands and just left the body on the beach. For him, his duty and mission were fulfilled, the Rose was killed. But for Remnant, the roses died from the frost. And Jek only had one enemy left; Luke Skywalker.

* * *

 _The end._


	15. Deleted Scenes

So during development, I had, what I thought were good, scenes already in place, however I changed them because I mainly wanted to keep this story rated T, and not M. But since some of them might include coarse language, I'll have to change the story's rating to M. I'll also explain why at the end of each scene.

Forgot I had this in my Doc Manager as well.

* * *

"Oh, its useless. We've had no leads or sightings in the past two months. Our pilots have patrolled every area not controlled by the New Republic for this Ruby Rose. He's got us chasing nothing but dead ends." The First Commander responded.

"That's because you all are searching in the wrong areas!" Jek unexpectedly walked in on the five commanders, they all saluted upon seeing him and hearing his voice. "The only reason why you haven't found that little bitch is because you haven't searched the other damn kingdoms!" He shouted.

"B-but my lord, the New Republic has sensors on the borders. If we pass them, they will be tripped and they'll get worked up and suspect we're still hiding." The Third Commander told him. Jek activated his lightsaber pike and killed him.

"I did not ask for fucking excuses! When I gathered you all two months ago, I asked for the location of that brat so I could end her myself for what she did to Empress Beniko! And all I'm getting are fucking setbacks and excuses from a useless pair of incompetent military commanders!" He was angered and annoyed with his commanders.

The four remaining commanders had nothing to say to him, seeing that he was clearly angered and furious at them. They looked at each other and wondered who was going to speak first. Jek looked at each of them one by one, waiting for a response from at least one.

"My lord, I know what I'm about to say may be unrelevant... but if we were to find her then maybe the New Republic Vale Fleet's command ship _Beacon_ has information regarding her location." The First Commander cautiously suggested infiltrating a very important vessel of the Republic.

"Yes, my lord, if the New Republic knows anything then there is a good chance it will be on the _Beacon_." The Fourth Commander agreed. Jek seemed to have calmed down and leaned against the command console.

"All of you, like him, will die if this does not play out the way it should." He said to the four commanders. "If the _Beacon_ has the information we need then maybe things will start going our way." He finished, gesturing his hand for them to leave.

A few moments later, he pulled up a hologram of the pre-exiled Ruby Rose and looked at it with anger and hate. "Soon you traitor, my blade will go right through your throat!" He said to himself.

 _This scene was deleted obviously because of the coarse language I used for Jek._

* * *

 _ **Originally part of chapter 9.**_

 _Location: Southern Mistral, Clan Cadera's camp._

At the camp owned by Clan Cadera, and with the loss of the White Fang fortress to the Taurus Loyalists, things were about to get more busy. They had plans for that fortress and this loss set them back a few months but didn't harm their resolve to retaliate.

"What happened? I heard we lost a valuable asset?" Yang walked in on the tent where they would plan attacks and strikes against their enemies, most notable the White Fang remnants in Mistral.

"We lost the fortress to the Faunus group we've trying to deal with. The Commander, he's dead." Torian responded to Yang's assumption, confirming what she heard.

"Well? What are we going to do about it?" She asked.

"We'll think of something, Yang. The New Republic also asked us for help, said something about TIE fighter sightings surfacing up in Vale." He answered.

"TIE fighters? You don't mean..." She was interrupted by Torian.

"Yes. The New Empire might've been hiding all this time. They asked for our help in searching for any evidence to confirm this." He replied.

"Well, what are we going to do? Go and help them, or recapture the White Fang fortress?" She questioned.

"I told them we could lend a few warriors, but not at the expense of the problems we're dealing with right now." He answered.

"Well who's going?" She wanted to know because she wanted to go.

He smiled at her. "Well I thought you could maybe represent us as leader of who I send, Yang." He replied.

She punched her fists together. "Time for some ass-kicking." She said.

 _Originally after the Taurus Loyalists' reclamation of the White Fang fortress, this scene was going to play out after it but I wanted to bring back Yang in the next story._

* * *

"Jek 'Zosam. He is an Atlesian; born in Atlas, raised in Vacuo and lives in Vale. Normally, I don't trust humans but 'Zosam, he's good people. Very trust worthy, Jaina." He answered with deception.

She saw right through his lie.

"'Zosam? Sounds like a familiar name, Luna. You ever hear of three certain Mandalorian clans before the Old Empire? There were considered extremists by the Mandalorians, even by the ones who were the most brutal." She said to him.

"What's this got to do with my contact, Jaina?" He replied.

"Clans 'Zosam, 'Nrahom and 'Kutum were extremists who were exiled by the Mandalorians because they even disliked other Mandalorian clans. Many of them were believed to have been hunted and killed by the Old Empire and Republic before the Empire-Republic war." She explained her familiarity of the three mentioned clans.

"Well if he is one of these Mandalorians then I don't think he has any connection to them anymore." He replied.

"You know, there was this Shadow Guard, his name was Jek 'Nrahom." She said as he was going to quick draw his weapon.

He drew his weapon quickly but it wasn't fast enough as Jaina pulled out her lightsaber, dismembering his hand. The honour guards outside didn't rush in as Luna expected because they were mind-tricked by Jaina to fall asleep.

"All of the 'Zosam, 'Nrahom, and 'Kutum people were taken into the New Empire after their exile! You better not harm my Blake, or I will kill you slowly with so much pain you'll think twice!" She said to him. He could see the anger in her eyes.

She then turned around and walked out, leaving Luna without a hand and exposed. However, she couldn't prove it because Luna and Jek had a failsafe plan for it.

 _Originally I WAS going to explore Jek's heritage as a member of the exiled 'Nrahom Mandalorian clan but ultimately, I decided otherwise. While Jek is an OC, he is part of Venom's story and I thought he should be the one to explore his backstory more._


	16. Resurrection of the New Empire

As snow covered Ruby's dead body, Jek stood on the cliff where he encountered her and looked out into the distance, smaller islands close to the coast of Vale where beginning to be covered in snow as well. The wind also began to pick up as colder temperatures rose with the weather. Winter was about to begin and he was prepared for it, he was about to walk off but had a last look at Ruby's snow-covered body and realized something out of respect, despite his hatred.

A little while later, Jek had placed a makeshift wooden-tombstone on a rectangular-shaped pile of dirt with a name "Ruby Rose" on it. He then placed Ruby's lightsaber on top of the grave, and stood up looking down at it.

"May time heal your sorrow, mistress Rose." He said as he turned around, ready to leave. "Those we love don't go away, they walk besides us everyday." He finished as he showed sympathy for Ruby, something most, if not all Sith were incapable of. He then left the village, returning to the bunker to hopefully find his forces waiting, and plan his next move against the New Republic, Mandalorians, and the Jedi.

* * *

Meanwhile in Vacuo, the _Commander_ was joined by two other ships, the _Intervention_ and _Avenger_. The captains of both ships consisted of Grand Admiral of Mistral Emiisa Varanee and New Empire captain Lorth Needa, respectively. With android Lana reviving the New Empire, many remnant forces joined them, including some Old Empire remnants who survived the Empire-Republic war.

"It is so nice to have you aboard, Varanee. As one of the last two Grand Admirals, your presence is greatly important to the revival of this once great Empire." Android Lana said to the holographic Varanee.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. My ship is yours to command." She replied as she bowed.

With the three large Star Destroyers hovering near Renwil's fortress, it wasn't long before they'd be noticed by farmers, travelers, paroling New Republic speeders, and Grimm alike. Much like the New Republic's predecessor, the Rebel Alliance, android Lana would need to keep her forces moving and mobile to prevent detection from the forces that would resist against her.

"Once Renwil's forces are all onboard the ships, we will head into low orbit and get into position above the traitors' bunker." Lana said to her officers who were present via hologram transmissions. "There, we'll make sure they no longer pose a threat." She finished.

For a while, android Lana stood directly at the window of the _Commander_ 's bridge, looking out upon the two other Star Destroyers. Although the android was merely just a machine with a human personality and memories, its characteristics matched that of a human being, similar to another certain android. She was later joined by android Ruby who donned dark Sith robes but still retained her original's Rose emblem and colours.

"How are you, my love?" She asked the false Ruby.

"I-" The android was interrupted by something that would change her completely.

With the death of the real Ruby Rose, the remaining memories from her dying consciousness and Aura attempted to find any living DNA, and eventually made its way to the DNA found within the chip of android Ruby's brain-unit, causing her newfound memories to clash and conflict with the real Ruby's memories. Lana noticed she was holding onto her head like something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

The Rose rubbed her head. "Nothing." She replied. "Being in that pod for so long, I guess its just messing with my head, master." She finished. Lana smiled.

"We need not to worry about that now, love. We can plan our revenge against the New Republic for destroying the Fortress." She assured the android as she only nodded back.

Despite the programming, the DNA chip's memories were flooded with Ruby's last memory, fighting against Jek and dying, confusing the android and causing her to question her own existence, whether or not she was real or just a clone with someone else's memories.

* * *

Standing around the same console within the bunker, there were three officers with rank plaques of Lieutenant. They were waiting for Jek to return but had plans while waiting. The Second Commander then walked in on the lieutenants who ceased their conversation, and waited for him to give out orders.

"We must evacuate from this bunker. If I know the other Commanders as well as I do then they'll probably bombard this bunker as soon as possible." He said to the men.

"Yes sir. I'll notify the sergeant immediately!" The First Lieutenant said as he walked off.

The other two awaited their orders from the Second Commander, who opened up a recent transmission sent by the First Commander.

"Varin Cole, this is your final warning. The Empress, politely, asks that you pledge your allegiance to her. The New Empire will be reborn, and this is your only chance to right the wrong you have committed against her will. You have exactly two hours to relay your decision back to us. Failure to do so will result in death by bombardment." The transmission played as the two Lieutenants stood by Varin.

"Sir?" The Second Lieutenant asked.

"It is not the Empress, lieutenant. He is mentioning an android that has the Empress' memories and personality. Besides we won't be here in two hours. Jek will arrive and we'll be long gone." He replied to the Lieutenant.

They heard a distant rumble as explosions rocked the bunker. They also heard blaster rifle as well coming from the hanger bay. Varin then told the Third Lieutenant to go and check what was going on, and complied. He then got a transmission from the First Lieutenant.

"Sir! The New Republic found us!" His transmission began to static a bit as blasters were heard in the background. "M-mandalorians?!" His final words before being cut off.

In the hanger bay, Yang had cut through the troopers like nothing, blasting them in the face with her upgraded Ember Celica as they flew in the air and landing hard on the floor. It looked like she was enjoying herself. She then spotted the First Lieutenant and charged towards him and launched her fist into his face, killing him instantly.

The rest of the stormtroopers were handled with ease by Torian Cadera and New Republic soldiers with some retreating back into the bunker. They were soon followed by the soldiers as the rest secured the hanger and to make sure to cover all the other exits.

"I'm guessing this is the first time you've ever had fun in a long time, huh Yang?" Torian commented on her fighting just now.

"A lot more fun than pumbling White Fang, Tor. I'll tell you that much." She replied as he smiled back.

"Sir, the hanger's secured. The Imperial troopers that retreated have been cornered in what our troops think is a command center. We are attempting to break through the doors now." The New Republic sergeant reported.

"Good. Let's get over there and see who is leading this Imperial remnant, Yang. Sergeant, keep this hanger secure at all costs, do not let anyone through." He replied to the sergeant and gave him another order.

"Of course, sir." He replied, following his order.

Torian and Yang then went to the command center where Varin and his two Lieutenants along with what remained of his Stormtroopers had been cornered.

"Sir, what do we do?" The Third Lieutenant asked.

"I don't know. We're trapped here. It won't be long before they blow through that door, lieutenant. Let me search through this console to see what we can do to stall 'em." He said as he went to the command console and began to scroll through it.

As he was searching the bunker's information, he had come across a folder containing door codes but did not see the doors the codes were meant for and found only hints of the hidden doors. He then came across a file titled "Vault" but it was locked with a code. Before he could figure out how to unlock the file, the New Republic soldiers led by Torian and Yang blew through the door, with Torian taking out the Stormtroopers one by one. Eventually holding the three officers at gunpoint.

"You gonna just shoot me down like all Mandalorians do?" Varin said, getting up and starring at Torian and Yang.

Varin and his two lieutenants were the only three who survived as most of the Stormtroopers were killed.

"Oh yeah? Like this?" Yang replied and launched her fist towards his face but was stopped by Torian who caught her fist.

"Whoa, Yang! The New Republic wants us to keep these Imperials alive, they have plans for them." He said to her as she backed off. "Corporal, take them to the hanger and contact the dropship." He gave an order to the soldier.

"Yes, sir." He said as he ordered the soldiers to cuff Varin and the two lieutenants, taking them to the hanger.

For over an hour, Torian and Yang were snooping around the command center with the sergeant and some other personnel of the New Republic who arrived earlier. They looked through the consoles, finding nothing but Old Empire information on the bunker.

"Sir, we just received a message from something called the _Commander_." A soldier reported a finding. Torian, Yang, and the others in the room then paid their attention to the message that played. They all saw android Lana appear as the message began.

"Varin Cole, I am disappointed by your decision, it hurts me that you didn't not accept my invitation to be part of the resurrection of my Empire. I'd hate to do this but I simply cannot allow you to co-exist alongside my authority, it will cause problems, and we both know what happens to traitors, do we? Hope you have the kettle on, cause we're coming right to you." The message ended.

They were all speechless, didn't know what to say. They all had belief that Lana was dead, that Luke was the one who killed her three months ago. Torian ordered the sergeant to remain at the bunker and set up an ambush while he and Yang left the bunker, going back to the _Nora Valkyrie_ to warn High Command, transferring a copy of the message onto Yang's scroll.

* * *

 _RWBY: The Resurrection of the New Empire_


End file.
